


Uno Floccus Niveus

by BunniesAndBooks



Series: UFN [1]
Category: Glee, Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: AU, Angst, Claustrophobia, Crossover, Fluff, Friendship, M/M, Minor Character Death, Nightmares, Out With A Bang Big Bang, Romance, Slight Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-11
Updated: 2015-07-11
Packaged: 2018-04-08 15:15:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 50,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4310097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BunniesAndBooks/pseuds/BunniesAndBooks
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kurt's mother Elisabeth had always told Kurt so many stories about the Legends of the world, though the most frequent ones – his favorite ones – were those about Jack Frost. And even as he grows up and stops believing in such things as Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy, he never could bring himself to stop believing in the snow-controlling boy.<br/>That did not mean however he had ever expected himself to come face to face with a certain young Legend. And what in the world could Jack Frost ever want from him?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This is a completed work for the Out With A Bang on tumblr.
> 
> Since Jack is only 14 years old in the original story – as I found out while looking things up about it – I have decided to deviate slightly and make him a bit older than that. I have also taken a few liberties with some other characters that weren't introduced in the movie but were part of the original books, since I don't really know anything about them and haven't been able to find any of the original books to read.
> 
> This is kinda the wrong time of year to post this kind of story, since most of it really happens in the dead of winter and all, but hopefully you guys will be able to look past all that. Though who knows, maybe it will be nice to read about the snow and all on the warmest of summer days? ;)
> 
> Hope you like it!
> 
> Love B&B

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Art for this story can be found in Chapter 1 and Chapter 10/Epilogue. Two wonderful artists were kind enough to take their time to create some truly gorgeous pieces of art for this fic, so a big shout out to LilRedAlchemist and A_Wandering_Soul! Please check out the art they've created, and links to their art can be found on the top of the chapters where they're located.

"What are you trying to say here Elisabeth?" Jack asked his good friend as he carefully changed his hold of the quiet two year old boy sat in his lap, making sure the child wouldn't slip from his embrace. Not that much could happen really; the young toddler was far too enraptured watching a pretty snowflake floating daintily around the three of them to do much but giggle or occasionally clap his hands together when the snowflake did an especially wonderful trick. Apart from that the boy was rather lax in Jack's arms and very much content just being cuddled up close in the boy's warm hoodie. But one could never be too safe, Jack thought.

Gracefully flicking his fingers in a small gesture Jack made the snowflake perform a series of intricate twirls and dips mid-air, making the child in his arms laugh happily time and time again. He was smiling so big all of his tiny, little teeth were showing and his eyes were sparkling with joy.

Now, Jack didn't know entirely how – or even why really – he could control the snow, or the ice, the way he did. He had never been given an explanation on the matter, not once during the three hundred years he had been alive so far, walking around the Earth.

That was the first 'mystery' in his life.

Jack had little to no clue what the answer to this first mystery was. It was simply the way things was. He had continuously asked the man in the moon about it, but he had never been given any answered to his questioned. None of the other Legends – for that was what he was, a Legend – could explain to him why he had gotten the powers he did either. It was a mystery only he himself could answer they would all say when asked.

Whatever that meant.

The second mystery however was in a way far more easily answered, yet so much more complex.  
Because during the three hundred years he had been alive now and walking the Earth there had so far only been two humans granted with the capability of seeing him. Of hearing him. Of touching him.

First it had been Elisabeth Hummel that came into his life some twenty years ago, then known as Elisabeth Finley, and only now recently her son Kurt as well. But why these two people? Why nobody else?

Now, it was a wide-spread truth among the Legends that the only way the humans would be able to see and interact with a Legend was if they believe in you. It didn't matter what you tried to do to gain their attention, unless they believed you would remain unseen and unheard. Unless you were believed in you would be treated like air.

For a long time it hadn't made a difference what Jack did on Earth, he could perform unique splendors and amazing miracles left and right, but never once had he been believed in. He had simply been a tale told to the children for fun, an anecdote so parents would had an excuse for their children to wear hats when it was cold outside.

Utter loneliness was a thing Jack had been horribly familiar with for centuries. At one point in time Jack hadn't even been able to remember what a life _not_ served alone in solitude was like.

But all of that had changed some twenty years ago when a sole child – a young girl no older than five years old – had looked up at him and spoken his name.

~*~

_"Oh please don't cry little one," Jack murmured worriedly in a hushed tone - despite the fact that no one could hear him - as he sat hunched before a little girl that was, simply put, bawling. He had seen her come with her parents to the winter market mere minutes ago, and had then been horrified when she had wandered away from them into the throes of humans when she saw a big sparkly balloon hovering in the air, only to soon be lost in the crowd._

_Now she sat on the outskirt of the market, having run away further still once she noticed her mother and father were no longer beside her. Nobody was there to see her hiding behind a stack of empty boxes – only Jack, and he was feeling utterly useless at the moment._

_What could he possibly do to help the poor child? How could he make sure she would be reunited with her parents, and soon preferably?_

_Nothing, that was. Someone would had to be able to see him for that to happen, and so far during his meek existence, that hadn't happened yet._

_"Shh baby girl, don't cry," he begged the girl when she only sobbed harder into her little mitten covered hands, tears streaking her red cheeks as she cried._

_Jack's mind flew a mile a minute. What could he possibly do to help? Could he possibly trip someone and make them slide all the way to the child on the ice? No, stupid idea, he might hurt someone. Not that it had stopped him before, but still. Too many adults around. Could he throw snowballs and make them explore where they came from? No, there were too many people here, couldn't draw that kind of attention._

_Sighing Jack drew a hand through his hair, making a few stray snowflakes fall down to the ground. That gave him an idea. The very least he could do was to make the kid stop crying right? If he was too useless to do anything else?_

_Reaching his hand out Jack rested his palm upwards, and closing his eyes he pictured a perfect snowflake resting there, slightly bigger than normal ones, but equally as pretty as any small one could ever be._

_Then he made the snowflake dance before the child, waiting until it had drawn her attention before he made it twirl around her, making her emit happy giggles watching its magic. For a few minutes he made her laugh blissfully, before slowly making the snowflake descend to the tip of her nose._

_Jack chuckled watching her cross her big blue eyes to look at it where it sat on her nose, only to stop abruptly when her eyes instead focused upon him. Or at least what he thought was straight at him._

_His breath caught in his throat when he moved slightly only to have her eyes follow him._

_"C-can you see me?" he questioned her quietly, fearing the probability of his own imagination. This wasn't the first time he had thought someone was seeing him, only to prove it hadn't been true, only a treacherous trick of his own attention whore of a mind._

_It wasn't until she had reached forward and taken his hand that he dared to believe it. Then he broke down sobbing, not understanding how it could had happened. How he could had waited for so long only to had it happen once he had finally given up hope._

_"Shh, pwetty man, don't cwy," the young girl cooed with an adorable lisp, stroking his cheek with her tiny hand, the yarn of her mitten scratching his wet cheek. Still letting the tears flow Jack covered her hand with his, the two of them looking into each other's eyes._

_They sat like that for what felt like hours, but was likely only a few more minutes before Jack finally stood and offered the girl his hand, promising her to take her back to her parents._

~*~

Elisabeth had been the first child to ever see him, to ever recognize him for who he was. She had been the first human to talk to him, to hold his hand and touch his cheek. She had been the first child that could see him during his entire time on Earth.

Sure, he had talked with the other Legends at times; like the young and ever so sad Mother Nature or the old and drawling Father Time, but that wasn't the same. It wasn't even close.

For the first time he had understood the feeling of being believed in. How glorious and humbling it truly was.

Now, twenty years down the line he could still remember the shock of it all when Elisabeth had spoken to him and taken his hand in her tiny one. He could still recall the pure bliss he had felt when she had brushed a tear of joy off his cheek that first time. He could remember how she had hugged him when he had told her he would find her her parents. He could remember how she had made him realize it wasn't all some elaborate dream of his out there to torture him and bring him down to his knees when he found out the truth.

Jack could also clearly remember the disappointment he had felt afterwards when none of the other children would take notice of him; when they would walk straight past him – or even worse, _through_ him – oblivious as always to his existence.

But he had gotten over that with the help of Elisabeth. Or, he would eventually, anyways. Or, maybe not really. Hopefully he would. One day.

But ever since that fateful day twenty years ago there hadn't been a winter when Jack hadn't visited his only friend daily.

For you see, that was the problem: it was only during the winter months that he could come see her, it was only during the winter months that he had be allowed to walk freely around on Earth. For it was only during the winter months his mere presence could be justified, it was only then his footsteps of frost could be overlooked as something 'natural.'

That was the one law he was forced to live by. That was the one law that _all_ of the Legends were forced to obey – to only walk the Earth when they were due. To only walk the Earth when their talents and powers were needed.

It was only the Guardians among them who stood above that law, and that was only allowed when danger loomed over either mankind or the Legends. Other than that nobody was reprieved for anything.

Oh, how Jack loathed that law. He hated that law with every fiber of his being.

Every summer spent away Jack would spend his time in isolation, fearing that Elisabeth would forget about him, that once he had come back to her again she wouldn't be able to see him. That she would run straight through him just like all the other humans. That she would had stopped believing in him, reinforcing his conviction of his own worthlessness. That he wasn't worth to remember, wasn't worth to be believed in.

Jack couldn't even understand _why_ she had believed in him in the first place. It made no sense to him. He was no one special; he could do a few cool tricks with the snow. So what? All the other Legends had _actual_ powers, not like him. Never like him.

Luckily she hadn't stopped believing in him yet, and he was slowly starting to trust her when she told him he was special, but his fear that she one day _would_ stop believing in him had never ceased. His fear that she _might_ would never gone away. How could it possibly when Elisabeth was his one connection to the humans? How could it possibly when she was his best friend? His _only_ friend?

Sure, Kurt could see him now too, just like his mother. But if Elisabeth suddenly stopped believing, how long would it take the young toddler to do the same?

There simply were no guaranties that either of the two would remember him – little silly old Jack with the snow trick – once winter came again. And now, with spring rapidly approaching, Jack couldn't help but worry about what the summer months might bring. He always did, and no matter how many times Elisabeth would reassure the young Legend that he wouldn't, _couldn't_ be forgotten he always spent the summer months encompassed in pure fear anyway. No matter what he did he never could make the dread go away.

But at the moment he still had a few days left, a few days before he would go 'home' again, and sitting beside his best friend in her backyard, her son in his lap, Jack couldn't help but felt content. In that sole moment he didn't had to worry about a thing.

Or, at least he hadn't until Elisabeth told him she was sick.

"I have cancer Jack. Leukemia," she told him sadly, a lone tear rolling down her cheek. "The doctors said they couldn't do anything to heal me. That they caught it too late."

Jack couldn't look at her; had to look away as he felt stinging tears burn his eyes. He couldn't let her see him cry, he had to be strong for her. It didn't matter how much his own heart ached in pain, how hollow his stomach suddenly felt. It didn't matter how scared _he_ felt, not as long as he could make her feel better, because God if he was this petrified, how scared wasn't she?

"How long?" Jack finally croaked out, after several long minutes spent in complete silence, not even Kurt having uttered a single sound. Looking pointedly at the ground, knowing he would crumble and break should he look at her just once, Jack cleared his raw throat before continuing. "How long do they think you have left?"

'How long do I still get to keep you?' went unsaid.

It took Elisabeth a while to answer, and when she did he could hear the plain despair in her voice.

"They don't know. _I_ don't know." She took a deep, shuddering breath before leaning her head on his shoulder. "Maybe a month. Maybe two. Possibly a year if I'm lucky enough. I just don't know. Nobody does."

Jack had to swallow the lump that was suddenly lodged in his throat. She might be gone in a month? In two? His only friend in the world might die in a month and he wouldn't even be allowed to be there with her? Elisabeth could die and he wouldn't be able to say goodbye? She could die and he would be stuck on the other side of the Earth, forbidden to see her go, forbidden to simply tell her goodbye when her time came?

How was it possible? How could this possibly happen? Had he not been lonely enough in his life? Had he not suffered enough? Not been tortured enough?

A sob escaped from the young Legend's throat and it was only a moment before the two friends were hugging each other fiercely, tears flowing freely down both of their blotched cheeks as they clutched the other tightly in their grasped.

Little Kurt sat between them, far too young to understand what was really going on, but still he tried to comfort them both by stroking their cheeks, murmuring words neither of them could comprehend, and pressing wet kisses all over both of their faces, making the two friends giggle quietly despite the seriousness of the situation.

"You have to look after him Jack," Elisabeth begged her friend, clasping one of his hands in her shaking ones, gazing deep into his red-rimmed eyes that still shone sadly at her. "You have to watch over Kurt – and Burt too – when I can't. You have to make sure they're okay. You have to make sure that they're happy." Elisabeth looked down at her son with a – simply put, _beautiful_ – smile on her lips, and stroked the hair away from her son's eyes. "He will grow up to be different than the other boys. He will be magnificent, so amazingly magnificent – but different. He'll be teased far too much by far too many people for my liking, but those who'll know him – truly know him – will absolutely adore him. How can they not?" She looked back up at her life-long friend, still seeming just as young as she remembered from her childhood days. "Can you do that for me Jack? Can you please take care of him? Can you protect him, my baby? Can you promise me that?"

Fresh tears spilled from his eyes, but he gripped her hand firmly in his and nodded, glad there was something he could do for his friend if it made it just the slightest bit easier for her to cope.

"I promise E. I promise."


	2. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The art featured in this chapter was made by the wonderful LilRedAlchemist. Below there are links to her work, even though they are also showcased directly in the fic.
> 
> http://i1065.photobucket.com/albums/u385/LilRedAlchemist/Uno%20Floccus%20Niveus%20POSTER_zpsia6eonpm.jpg
> 
> http://i1065.photobucket.com/albums/u385/LilRedAlchemist/Uno%20Floccus%20Niveus%20BOOK%20COVER_zpsd9xrmn7h.jpg

Kurt Hummel – McKinley High's one and only countertenor, top fashionista and diva extraordinaire – was having a bad day. Simple as that.

The series of events leading Kurt to draw that particular conclusion had begun first thing that morning when the sixteen year old’s alarm clock had rung not only far too late, but had startled him to such a degree he had actually fallen promptly out of bed when it did, because apparently he had slept way too close to the edge than he normally would.

Then, only minutes later, he had to his utter despair discovered the obvious imperfection on his usually wonderful skin. A blasphemous zit dared to tarnish his beautiful milky white skin – and he was in too great a hurry to properly cover it!

So, of course it should not had come as such a surprise when his favorite McQueen coat unexplainably sported a colossal tear stemming from one of its pockets. But it did, and he would had cried over its destruction had he only the time to actually grieve it. Though as it was, Kurt only had the time to grab the first coat he could find (that didn't clash all too horribly with his hurriedly put together outfit) and run out the door to try and catch the bus so he wouldn't miss too much of first period.

School hadn't been much better in the end. It was like every jock on campus just _knew_ he was doomed to show up shockingly late that specific morning and had all simply gathered outside to wait for him.

He had been thrown into the dumpsters _twice_ before he even made it inside the school hallways.

And throughout the entire day those Neanderthals had made his life a living hell. No less than four times Kurt could be found in the schools various bathrooms desperately trying to salvage his clothes and his hair by scrubbing away all the red dye number six that he could. Sadly his Vivianne Westwood scarf proved to be unsalvageable, a loss he would lament later.

That wasn't to mention how the hockey team had found it hilarious to dump that days mystery meat on top of his head, drenching all of him from head to toe in that foul smell that would surely manage to seep into every pitiful pore of his body before he could remove it. He could only imagine the damage that treatment had done to his poor skin. Kurt shuddered simply thinking about it.

In the end he had been forced to extract his loathed PE clothes from the furthest depths of his gym locker, as all of his emergency outfits had already been tarnished by that point. It was a good thing the pants he had stashed were full-length though – he could only imagine the ridicule should he show himself in their school's deploring gym shorts that barely covered anything up. It hadn't been more than ten minutes though before they too were more or less destroyed; the last two slushies of the day hitting him straight on the chest, the red ice sliding down the fabric and tainting the garments beyond repair.

Well, fuck.

Now, it wasn't only the bullies that managed to make his school day so horrible. His third period math teacher had promptly decided that his class definitely were in grave need of a pop-quiz to keep everyone on their toes in the future, and not long after that Kurt had discovered he had forgotten his history paper back home that morning, a paper which was supposed to be turned in specifically that day. Obviously.

And to top it all off there hadn't been any glee club meetings whatsoever that day. And Mercedes' had been out sick the entire week with pneumonia, which meant he had suffered through the torture on his own.

So yeah, it was safe to say that Kurt Hummel wasn't having a great day. At least it was Friday, which meant he wouldn't had to go back the next day. Not to mention how there was only a week left before Christmas break begun.

At least Finn had smiled at him briefly when they'd passed each other in the hallway though. Kurt supposed he had to count that in his favor, even if the jock had consequently missed it when Strando had pushed Kurt against the lockers not moments later. Small wins and all that.

Though in the end Kurt only found it fitting how utterly disastrous his day had turned out.

Because you see, eight years ago - on this exact date - was the day Kurt's mother Elisabeth had finally succumbed to a long battle against cancer. So wasn't it ironic how all the jocks in school seemed to instinctively know how horrible this day would be for the young countertenor just by waking up, and how they easily could make everything ten times worse with their brainless yet scathing remarks and their simply put terrorizing actions? As if he needed any of that crap to feel like he had hit rock bottom today of all days.

Kurt had only been two years old when the doctors first discovered his mother's terminal leukemia. At the time he hadn't understood the implications it brought, he had been far too young to understand the meaning of fear and of loss. It had only been much later, after her death that he had finally known what it all really meant, that he had truly understood.

In the beginning after her diagnosis there hadn't really been any noticeable changes in the Hummel household, at least not that he could bring himself to remember. His mother would still smile constantly; eyes always crinkling slightly in the corners and her dimples unmistakably showing years upon years of smiled and happy laughter. Their house would still be filled to the brim with laughter at all times of the day just like it had been before the diagnose was set.

It was just that sometimes the air around them would turn somewhat pensive, and the two parents would wonder how long everything would truly last while gazing longingly into the others eyes over the head of their still blissfully unaware child as he would sit cuddled between the two.

With time a year passed, the same year their doctor once said Elisabeth would most likely not be alive to see end of. Then another year came and went. And another. And another. And another.

And then… Then Elisabeth grew worse. Much worse.

The majority of the memories Kurt still held of his mother stemmed from that time, from the time when doctor visits were frequent, from when his mother had been admitted into the hospital one day only to never leave again with her life intact.

Whenever Kurt would find himself thinking about her it would usually be one of those memories sitting lodged at the forefront of his mind, torturing him. It would almost always be those same images haunting him.

He would see her lying curled up in her hospital bed, looking so impossibly small and fragile to his then six year old mind. There would be dark circles accenting her tired eyes, her skin and her lips would look so sickly pale even his father had been tentative to touch her in fear of somehow breaking her. He would remember how her breathing seemed to be labored far more often than not, and he would recall how her voice would go from the melodic tone of his earliest youth that he had always loved to something seeping through with such raspiness it had hurt even his own throat. He would remember the pain in her eyes when she had explain to him that she would had to leave him and his father behind to go live with the pretty angels hiding amongst the clouds.

He could remember so much pain. So much fear. So much hopelessness.

But then there were those memories – those few older memories – in which he was younger and his mother was healthier. Usually they were only short glimpses of his once happy life; his mother kneeling in her garden caring for the flowers in the flowerbed, the two of them being curled up together with Burt on the couch watching the Lion King for the twentieth time, his mother pushing him on the swings at the play ground down the street during a warm summer day…

All of them short, yes, undoubtedly so. But they were all happy none the less.

Then there was the time his mother had first told him about Jack Frost…

~*~

_They'd talked about going to the park that upcoming Saturday all week so that Kurt would be able to make beautiful snow angels and snowmen with his friends from kindergarten instead of being forced to do it on his own in their backyard, but once Saturday morning came any and all attempts of doing that had proved themselves futile if not outright impossible._

_Outside the safety of their home there was a huge snowstorm raging through their town, and listening to the radio one could hear that the entire state in fact was suffering from it. All over Ohio snow was reaching up to the brink of peoples windows, more snow only adding to it by the second. Harsh winds were tearing through the trees across the state, making them bend to an uncomfortable degree, some of them already broken and other even torn up by their roots. One couldn't see longer than five feet in front of oneself before everything quickly muddled up into one big blur._

_Safe to say that it was downright dangerous to even consider going outside in that weather. Luckily there would prove not to be that many that even tried in the first place. The people living in the Hummel residence certainly didn't._

" _I believe dear old Jack is angry again," his mother had stated looking outside, a fond smile on her lips but still wearing a deep frown splayed across her forehead._

" _Whose Jack mom?" little four year Kurt had questioned with a light lisp, also sporting a slight frown, though his was more out of frustration from not being able to go outside to play like he had planned to than from the obvious concern his mother was showing._

_Elisabeth had looked down on him, watching him carefully with her clear blue eyes before taking his tiny hand in her own and leading him from the vicinity of their kitchen to another window – the one in her and Burt's bedroom – the only one with a comfortable window seat built in. There she had sat him down in her warm lap as she softly began telling him the tragic tale of Jack Frost as they both watched as the storm continued to rage outside._

" _Somewhere out there in the world, there is a boy – or a young man really – whose name is Jack. Nobody knows where he came from, or why he is here. He can't tell you the answer to that either because not even Jack himself truly knows._

_What we do know though is that Jack is special, because with the help of his staff he can control the ice and the snow. With his staff he can make sure the snow is just a little bit wet so that it will be easier for all children across the world to make snowballs and snowmen to their hearts delight, and he can freeze the lakes and the rivers so that people can skate on it without fear of falling into the cold water…"_

" _Jack can do that?!" the young boy had cried out excitedly, amazement shining in his big, glasz eyes as he gazed up at his mother. "What else can he do?"_

" _Well…" she had drawn out, tongue clicking against the roof of her mouth as she thought. "He can make the snow really hard when children want to ride their sleds down the hills, but still super soft when somebody falls off so they won't get hurt. He can also make beautiful pictures on the windows with his ice. Just look here," she had said, pointing to a pretty pattern of frost going around the edges of the window beside them._

" _Wow…" Kurt then sighed in awe, staring at the in his mind magnificent ice. "He is really cool mom!" he had burst out gleefully, only to frown again. "But why did you say Jack is angry mommy? Isn't he happy he can do all of those cool things with his stick? I would be really happy mom! And I would had really many friends, and they would all think I was cool too!"_

_His mom had smiled, but she hadn't looked happy as she watched the snow swirling around outside._

" _I'm afraid it isn't that easy for dear old Jack." Kurt then watched as his mother closed her eyes and sighed quietly. "You know Kurt how you, your friends and all of the other kids in your kindergarten class know there's a Santa Claus who brings you presents for Christmas, how the Easter Bunny hides all those eggs for Easter and how the Tooth Fairy trades your teeth for pennies?"_

_Kurt had nodded seriously since he knew all about them, but he didn't understand what that had to do with Jack Frost and why he was angry. Had Santa Claus teased Jack like some of the bigger kids at kindergarten sometimes teased him? That used to make him angry, maybe Jack was the same? But would Santa Claus and the others really tease Jack? That didn't really sound like them…_

" _Well, there isn't anybody who believes in Jack, and because nobody believes in him, nobody can see him either." Kurt had gasped in shock hearing that, but he still remained seated quietly in his mother's lap, wanting to hear why nobody believed in him. He sounded so cool! "And because nobody can see him he doesn't had any friends," she had finished despondently._

" _No friends?" Kurt had asked sadly. He himself didn't had many friends either. All the boys in kindergarten thought he was weird, and most of the girls said he was a boy and had cooties so he couldn't play with them. Which he didn't! He would know if he had something as stupid as cooties!_

_But still, he had Mercedes and Brittany. They were his friends and they played with him all the time. He couldn't imagine not having any friends at all. No wonder Jack was angry. He would be angry all the time too if he didn't had any friends._

" _No friends," his mother then confirmed. "So sometimes he will get angry; at the world for being so unfair to him, at himself for not being able to make people believe in him… though never at the children, because Jack can't bring himself to blame them for not believing in him._

" _So when Jack gets angry he loses all control he has of himself and his powers and that is why the storms are so bad Kurt, because the storms are only mirroring how Jack is feeling, and it won't stop until Jack is calm again._

" _But tomorrow Kurtie, when you wake up you will see the most beautiful sight in your life, because once Jack has calmed down he will feel bad and guilty for letting the storm come to us, and he will do everything he can to make it up to us._

" _Everything will sparkle so much that you will think someone have poured glitter all over the ground and the trees, the sky will be the most beautiful blue you'll ever see and all the birds will be so happy with Jack that they start singing as prettily as they can to thank him. It will all show the most stunning kind of magic there is."_

_Kurt had sat there with his mother for a long time once her story about Jack Frost was finished. He just sat there nestled into her embrace, thinking quietly about what he had been told as the snow fell before his eyes._

" _Mom?" he had finally said after a long time, having come to a decision after a long while of thinking._

" _Huh, honey?" his mother had murmured somewhat sleepily, as she had almost fallen asleep sitting there in the soothing warmth from having her little son lean against hechest._

" _I think I'll believe in Jack," Kurt had told his mother proudly. "And if he wants to I will be his friend too. Do you think he would like that mommy? Do you think he would be my friend?"_

" _I think he would love that hun," she had told him with a great smile on her lips, making him grin too, knowing he had come to the right decision._

" _Now," she had asked a few minutes later, "do you want to help me bake some cookies and surprise your father?"_

" _Yes!" he had shouted happily, throwing his tiny arms in the air. He then leaped out of her hold, bouncing merrily to the kitchen, his mother following behind him at a more sedated pace as she chuckled quietly to herself._

~*~

Now, that had been a long time ago, and just like most children do Kurt had grown up to stop believing in silly things like Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy, but just like his mother before him Kurt couldn't find it within himself to stop believing in the old legend of Jack Frost.

He knew it wasn't rational; he knew the chances for someone like Jack Frost to actually be real were about as slim as someone finding a frog that would turn into a prince if you kissed it, or someone discovering there was a little dwarf inside a teacup on the dark side of the moon.

But wasn't that the thing though? That belief and trust in something didn't had anything to do with being rational; it was simply something within you, something that would stay there whether there was evidence proving it existed or not.

That was why Kurt didn't care if the people around him wore crosses to school or started new clubs where they could discuss their various beliefs. Just because he identified himself as an atheist – who albeit did believe in Jack Frost of all things – it didn't mean that other people weren't allowed to believe in God or Allah or whatever. Just as long as they didn't try to shove their beliefs into his face.

Though of course, he did kind of mind when the bullies around school – and away from school for that matter – would justify their actions toward him by saying being gay was an abomination according to the bible.

Anyhow... Yeah, Kurt still believed in Jack. He wasn't ashamed of it either, not in the slightest. He didn't broadcast it, but should it happen that anybody were to ask, then sure, he had admit to it happily. It wasn't like it was the oddest thing about him anyway.

His father would often say things during cold winter nights about how his mother too believed in him – how she would stay up especially late, simply staring out into the white snow worrying about her 'friend' Jack. It always made Kurt felt that tiny bit closer to his mother, knowing she too had remained steadfast in her belief in the story meant for young children. It also made that small voice in the back of his mind calling him crazy for believing in something so outlandish lessen.

Was it even possible to not be ashamed for believing in something but still felt like you're crazy for doing so at the same time?

Kurt would reason that if his mother, a grown woman with a house and a family, could still be convinced that Jack was real, then he undoubtedly could too. And for the past twelve years he had, though unlike his mother had claimed when he was four, Kurt had never been able to catch the faintest glimpse of someone resembling Jack Frost. He certainly hadn't been able to befriend the mysterious legend either like he had once planned to.

Oh well.

Opening the front door of the high school and tentatively stepping outside Kurt realized it had been stupid of him to hide in the girl's bathroom when the school ended half an hour earlier. Sure, it meant all of the football players would had cleared out; thus minimizing the prospect of being subjected to yet another shove, swirly or dumpster toss before going home. However, it also meant that with his car – his little baby – locked up in his father's garage with a leaking water cooler, combined with the fact that he had now missed the last bus from school – and with his phone lying powerless and dead in the bottom of his messenger bag – he would now be forced to walk all the way home.

Yay.

Deeply regretting ever leaving the safety of his bed that morning – heck, regretting telling his father he would still go to school instead of staying at home like he had been offered the night before – Kurt stood atop the stairs of McKinley High's front entrance, where he felt the cold already began to seep past his filthy clothes, deep into his skin and bones.

Drawing his coat closer around himself he set a quick pace, determined to get himself home as fast as possible, reluctant to stay outside in the brusque cold any longer than strictly necessary.

There was a moment of grief in the air around him as Kurt suddenly thought about what his mother would had to say about the cold. She had said it once when he was younger, when he had been about six years old and much more well versed in the tales of Jack Frost.

~*~

" _Whenever the cold feels like it will dig itself into your heart and your stomach Kurt," she would began, lifting him up to the window sill so he could watch outside, "you should know it is only because our old friend Jack is really, really sad. The coldness you feel surrounding you is the same coldness Jack feels in his heart, which is why it can feel so achingly painful outside when it is this freezing."_

" _But couldn't someone make him happy again mommy? Like you do when I am sad?" Kurt would then ask her, worrying about poor Jack. His mother always was the best at cheering him up when he was down. She would always bring him a warm cup of milk and read him a fairytale, and she would always make these funny voices to the different characters. That always made him laugh again and he would forget what had made him sad in the first place._

_Hopefully someone could make Jack Frost felt like that too._

" _I wish someone could Kurtie, I wish someone could."_

~*~

His mother would always look so worried whenever it was particularly cold outside – she would always walk back to the windows around their home and stare out through the glass, her fingers twitching in need to do something. Kurt still didn't know why she had continued that habit; neither did his father had any explanations for it. It was in the end only one of the many enigmas concerning his mother when it came to Jack Frost.

Turning left at the street corner Kurt shoved his already frozen fingers as deep into the coat pockets as he could get them, silently cursing how freezing his PE sweats felt against his skin, while simultaneously wishing he had brought along a warm scarf or even a hat that morning so he might had been able to warm his cold ears a tiny bit. They felt just like icicles as he briefly lifted his fingers to touch them.

Kurt really hoped his father wouldn't be home when he had eventually get there, as he could live without the sure fired lecture about taking some responsibility and not be outside in weather like this. As if it ever would had happened if he had been able to drive his precious baby to school...

Sighing quietly Kurt kept walking, longing for the warmth of his bed, where he would be able to cry himself to sleep without fearing for anyone's reaction to it. Where he would be able to cry over his overtly crappy day. Where he would be able to cry over the anniversary of his mother's death and the feeling of longing and loss that came with it.

He knew that later tonight; after a poor attempt of dinner from his father – a meal probably consisting of a badly roasted piece of meat and some overly cooked potatoes – the two of them would go visit his mother at the graveyard where they both most likely would bawl their eyes out. Just like they'd done the previous year, and the years before that too.

But Kurt also knew that he wouldn't be able to hold in his tears for much longer as it was. Already he could felt the sobs lodged tight in his throat and knew it was only a matter of time before it all would come crashing down.

Ten minutes passed with Kurt still walking, not even close to being home, but far closer to allowing the tears to run down his ice cold cheeks. Kurt could practically felt his bluing lips began to tremble, and he had to blink continuously just to be able to see where he walked.

That was the moment when a cool and almost bored voice spoke out behind him, "You should probably dress a bit warmer in this cold Kurt, didn't your mother ever tell you that?"

Kurt froze where he stood. He could swear he knew that voice – that teasing note hiding just below the surface along with the promise of such care. It seemed so familiar, and in a weird way it felt like finally coming home again. But Kurt couldn't place it; he hadn't got the faintest idea of who it could belong to.

He felt like he should know anyway.

"You're not even wearing a hat or something," the voice continued teasingly, this time sounding much closer to him than it did before. "Tsk, tsk Kurt, you could freeze your ears off in this kind of weather if you're not careful."

Kurt closed his eyes. He _knew_ that voice, he couldn't explain how, because he couldn't remember even hearing it before, but he _knew_ it. It was like that voice was embedded in his bone marrow somehow, like it was a part of him and his life. But from where?

"I suppose you don't have any gloves either do you? Otherwise you wouldn't shove your hands so deep into your pockets one would think you were searching for China." Whoever was behind him seemed to be even closer still, probably not even ten paces back if Kurt's experience with listening for bullies proved correct.

Kurt tried to dig into his memory, searching for a familiar face that the voice could belong to. At least he could tell the person was male, the voice too deep to belong to a girl – though he really shouldn't stereotype like that considering his own high pitched tone…

But it didn't belong to any of the guys at school, not that there were many that would ever talk to him in the first place. The guys at his father's garage were all too old, all too gruff for it to be any of them, and besides; they were all probably working right now. It wasn't any of his relatives, at least not any of them that were still in contact with him and his father. It wasn't the guy working at the grocery store, it was not the pizza delivery guy, it was not the mailman, not the graveyard's handyman, not that homeless man – Patches – hiding behind the library…

Who was it?

"You're just like her you know," the voice continued with a sudden morose tone, only to then finish with a small, sad chuckle, "Elisabeth never would dress properly before going outside either."

Kurt whirled around on the spot, eyes wide in wonder and mouth gaping slightly. "You knew my mother?" he asked breathlessly.

It was it was at that point that he realized he could actually see this 'mystery person' of his now. It was a boy, or possibly a young man even, leaning up against the icy brick wall beside them with one leg bent slightly. His skin was pale, possibly even paler than Kurt's own – which he would fondly call milky white when speaking about it with Mercedes and the other girls. Kurt didn't know there were any people in Lima with skin paler than his own.

The boy's hair was a remarkable white-ish color, like it was laced through with strands of silver and a pale gray, which was obviously dyed because _seriously_ , whoever was born with that naturally? It was even more palpable considering the boy's dark eyebrows, because that difference in color really couldn't happen on its own.

Dropping his eyes Kurt found that the boy wore a blue hoodie, and while it wasn't anything like a Marc Jacobs sweater it truly did look amazing with the way it stretched across the boy's broad shoulders and thin waist. The way it showed off the boy's muscles certainly was nice. And the material _did_ admittedly look extremely soft. Tight camel colored pants hugged the boy's long legs, and Kurt definitely approved of them despite the slightly worn threads at the bottom, but Kurt frowned confusedly when he saw that the boy wasn't wearing shoes or even a pair of socks. Wasn't that absolutely freezing? Kurt shivered just thinking about it.

"Why aren't you wearing shoes?" Kurt blurted out, and then promptly blushed when the stranger started laughing. It was a hearty laugh, the kind where it comes from deep within your stomach.

"Seriously?" the stranger huffed out through his chuckled. "You're really gonna ask me why I'm not wearing shoes? Not, like, who I am, or what I'm doing stalking you? I guess you did ask how I knew your mother though..."

Kurt had to smile, despite the small pang in his heart when the boy mentioned his mother. The stranger did had a point with him bringing up the lack of shoes of all things. It was kinda weird, wasn't it? He shook his head lightly before peaking up through the fringe of hair that had fallen over his eyes. "Fine then. Who are you, and how do you know me? I don't think I have ever seen you before."

"Oh you have, Kurt, you were just too young to remember it," the boy spoke, a sad tilt to his voice. "After all, you were only two years old the last time we met."

Kurt nodded sagely, he had trouble remembering most of his childhood at all, it wasn't strange that he couldn't remember something that happened when he was two. Then he realized something; this guy seemed to be about his age, maybe a few years older. How could he remember something like that?

"Wait, you're like, my age. How could you remember something like that?" he asked, curiosity filling him to the brim.

"Oh, I'm much older than I look," the boy somberly said, looking down at the ground with an unreadable expression. Geez, did this guy had mood swings or what?

Kurt tried to look into the boy's eyes, but ultimately failed when he just kept averting them. "Fine," he said with a small sigh. "You still haven't told me your name or how you know me though," Kurt pointed out.

"I have been a friend of your mother's for a long time Kurt," the boy began, "I met you for the first time when you were just a few months old – a small, precious little thing." The stranger reminisces before looking up into his eyes with a smirk. "Can't really say you've changed much."

Kurt blushed beet red within moments, and chuckled nervously as he looked down at the street. Was this guy flirting with him? He couldn't really tell, it had never happened to him before, as it wasn't really possible in this town.

He didn't even know this guy's name.

Shit, he still didn't know this guy's name.

"You've answered one of my questioned. How about the other? What's your name?" Kurt asked; still staring at the ground, not daring to look up at this guy that _might_ be flirting with him. Kurt don't even know the guy's name but was already terrified of scaring him off. And no wonder really, this was the first boy his own age beside the guys in glee club that didn't seem afraid or disgusted talking to him. It was... nice.

He could hear the ruffling the clothes made as the stranger moved tensely. Kurt was about to open his mouth and say something, though he didn't know what exactly, when the boy said the one name he hadn't expected to hear. At all.

"My name Kurt... Is Jack Frost."

And it wasn't until Kurt's head whipped up that he finally took in and _saw_ the long earthly brown stalk resting against the wall next to the boy. Next to... Jack. Jack Frost. The guy from his mother's stories. The guy that apparently knew his mother, and had been her friend. Huh. Well, look at that.

Who was out to screw with him this time?

"Look, I don't know what you think you're doing, or where you found out I still believe in Jack Frost," Kurt growled snidely, eyes narrowing as he stared at the strange boy, "but if you imagine I would fall for _that_ you've got another thing coming. So... just skip along to the next gullible person you can find and try your tricks on them. Because me? I'm not buying your charade."

"No?" the boy replied, seemingly amused as he raised his fist into the air.

"No," Kurt shook his head.

Out of nowhere a small whirlwind of snow began hurling through the air, forming something akin to a miniature tornado, spinning mere inches from the strange boy's outstretched palm.

Eyes widening Kurt looked on, transfixed, not able to drag his gaze away. That- that was something he hadn't expected alright.

"Believe me now?" the boy – Jack – asked slyly, smirking.

"You- you-" Kurt gasped, searching for words that could describe his sudden chock.

Then the world went black.


	3. Chapter 2

Kurt groaned when he woke up. There was a dull throb in the back of his head, but he couldn't remember what he had done to cause it. He couldn't recall much of anything really. Nothing aside from a strange dream. Or, at least he thought it must had been a dream. It seemed just like the kind of thing that his mind would conjure up on a day like this.

Because surely there was no way that he had just spoken to none other than Jack Frost? That had to be a dream, right? Jack Frost hadn't actually known his mother when she was still alive. Jack Frost hadn't known _him_ when he was younger. It just wasn't possible, was it?

Kurt had always believed there had been something _more_ behind his mother's stories, something real, but this was just too extraordinary. Especially when it happened to him – today of all days.

No, it had just been his mind playing tricks on him and letting him dream things that had always made him felt close to his mother. His mind knew what today meant and was simply out to screw with him. That was it.

That was it, Kurt decided with a relieved sigh. His mind was just toying with him, just giving him a really elaborate dream that seemed so incredibly real, but actually wasn't. He hadn't met Jack earlier. He had just dreamt it.

He relaxed back against his pillow, running his hand over his face and just enjoying the silence surrounding him. Shit, this day had been so strange, Kurt thought absently as he dragged his legs against the bedding, only then realizing he wasn't wearing his PE sweats anymore; these pants were far too soft for that. A quick peek reveals he had been wearing old pajama pants instead, pants he couldn't remember putting on – and when he thought about it he couldn't really remember putting on the plain white t-shirt he seemed to be wearing now either. What the hell...

Hopefully this was just him being absolutely messed up over the anniversary of his mother, and nothing else, so Kurt was just gonna... ignore it. At least for now. He _really_ couldn't afford feeling like some sort of crazy person right now, he just couldn't. Ignoring everything, it was good, it was fine.

Lightly pressing the heel of his hand to the back of his head Kurt swung his legs over the edge of his bed; massaging momentarily against the throbbing before standing up and stretching his arms out as far as he could, his back arching as he stood up on his toes. He felt exhausted – absolutely drained from how horrible school had been. And he knew it would only get worse when he went upstairs.

He could hear his father sitting by the TV. Could hear the sounded radiating from it, but he knew that his father wasn't actually looking. He never did this time of year. Kurt knew he was only pretending for Kurt's sake, and Kurt let him, just like all the other years before this one. Kurt knew his father missed mom just as much as he did, and if pretending to watch the TV made things easier for Burt then who was Kurt to take that from him.

With a depressed sigh Kurt made his way to his vanity across the room, feeling the need to moisturize just so his father wouldn't notice that anything was wrong with him. Burt really wasn't the only one in this house trying to protect the other by wanting to seem strong when it came to this. Kurt was just as protective of his father's feelings as Burt was of his; and if moisturizing made things appear more normal and keeping his father from worrying about him, then Kurt would moisturize his skin raw before actively skipping it.

He would do it despite how much he hates doing it this particular day.

Most days moisturizing and caring for his skin was his escape – a time that was just for him and his thoughts, a way for Kurt to just be himself – but today it was nothing but a chore, a curse. He'd keep thinking about his mother, about how sad he had been every year since her death, about how sad his dad had been... and after the day he had gone through he would probably even think about Jack.

Had it really only been a dream? It had all seemed so real...

No. Bad Kurt. Stop thinking about it, he chided himself, staring at his reflection in the mirror as he cursed himself. It was only gonna serve to drive him mad, and hell, he had enough on his plate at the moment. He was just gonna ignore it. Was just gonna let it go and focus on actual life instead.

Happy with his decision Kurt reached out for the first jar of face cream in his routine, but before his hand had even gripped the bottle he had frozen in his chair, eyes trained on something white stuck between his jars and bottles.

It was a letter; Kurt could tell even though it was just a folded up piece of paper – it was done neatly so, but still. He could glimpse the black hints of ink through it, and his name was written across the front of it.

He had a suspicion lurking in the back of his head about who it was from, even if it did sound ridiculous even to his own thoughts. But it just seemed to be too much of a coincident to be from anyone else than... him. Logically, it made sense, and for obvious reasons it really _didn't_.

The only way to know who put it there, Kurt knew, was to actually pluck it down and read it, so he did. His hands were trembling nervously as he reached for it, and he tried to remember if he had ever seen the handwriting that was spelling out his name across the front before, but his mind drew an unmistakable blank.

His subconscious had pretty much made up it's mind about who it was from though, hadn't it?

It was a short letter, not even half a page long, and while it was in an untidy scrawl Kurt was most definitely able to read it. _Dear, sweet Kurt_ , it began, and even those few words made Kurt's breath catch in his throat. It had to be him, right? Who else could it be?

_I'm afraid you passed out on me, and you seemed to hit the ground pretty hard when you did._

That would explain the throbbing, Kurt reflected dazedly, carding his shaking fingers absentmindedly through the mussed up hair where the pain was located beneath.

_I'm sorry I didn't cushion your fall with snow like I did when you fell in your youth, but I wasn't prepared and didn't have enough time to react before you had already hit your head. For that I am sorry._

_I won't go into detail about how I got you home, for you wouldn't believe me if I did._

He probably wouldn't. Not right now. Maybe later, when his mind had wrapped around this. _If_ it ever did.

 _I also won't tell you why you're in your pajamas right now –_ and Kurt knew he hadn't done that himself! – _just know, I didn't see a thing that I shouldn't have._

Thank God!

_Burt should be home soon, so I will have to leave for now Kurt, but I promise you will see me again. Soon._

_Your friend, Jack._

Placing the letter down on the vanity there was only one though crossing through Kurt's hazy mind.

He was real. He was actually real.

~*~

It was a good thing Kurt had the entire weekend to regroup and to gather his bearings after his overwhelming Friday. Besides the obvious mourning of his late mother, a good deal of his time was spent merely pondering if he was really going stir crazy from being pushed into the lockers one time too many at school, or if there had actually been a boy out there named Jack Frost that had taken him home and nursed him for who knew how long while Kurt had been unconscious.

It all just seemed so ludicrous; especially so when considering the fact that this – supposed – snow-yielding stranger claiming to be Jack Frost hadn't showed himself after Kurt's gracious meet with the icy ground where he had promptly passed out. The letter he had received had also gone missing before nightfall that very same evening, which was strange because Kurt _knew_ he had left it in plain sight on his vanity, and his father hadn't been in his room at all. Letters didn't just disappear like that, thus enforcing Kurt's confusing thoughts on the matter. Had there even been a letter in existence in the first place, or had Kurt simply dreamt something so unnervingly elaborate?

However the circumstances, Kurt's Monday brought with it another morning where the young countertenor found himself forced to attend yet another infuriating school day. He could tell the minute he parked his Navigator in the student section of the parking lot – he had followed his father to the shop that Saturday to help get it fixed, never again was he submitting himself to being stranded at school – that his day would most likely mirror that of the previous Friday.

For lurking next to the huge dumpster Kurt could detect several of his Neanderthal bullies, and it was clear the victim they were awaiting was in fact Kurt. He knew, because the very second they took notice of him turning off his car huge, malicious grins spread across their otherwise vacant faces, and even from this distance Kurt could see their fingers twitch in expectation.

Why could they never go bother someone else and just leave him alone?

Sighing tiredly Kurt removed the key from the ignition, stuffing it into a side pocket of his satchel as he stepped out of the car into the cold. If he wanted to get to class on time it was better to get this over with.

At the very least he wouldn't positively freeze to death this morning when being heaved into the dumpster, Kurt mused, for the weather had noticeably improved since that preceding week. True, it was still cold, but not anywhere near the freezing chill of that past Friday. This morning there were instead clear blue skies, allowing the sun to cast glistening light onto the crystal white snow covering every inch of the ground. And in the distance Kurt could faintly hear the sound of birds chirping happily amongst the usual screeching and rumbling of cars and the chatter of students milling around him – the only things disrupting the beautiful peace of nature.

"Can we get this over with quickly?" Kurt questioned the jocks dully as they reach him; the countertenor not even bothering with attempting to lure his way past them. It wouldn't be worth it in the end. Hitching his satchel further up his shoulder Kurt continued, "I have English soon and I would appreciate not being late-"

"Quit yappin' Hummel," one of the hulking boys barked – a junior named Zimmer something if Kurt's memory served him correctly – while another two grasped his biceps and began hurling him with them to the open dumpster.

"Always with the rough-housing," he complained bemusedly; they never seemed to learn he wouldn't bodily fight them back, only using his catty wit to verbally chew their heads off when in the proper mood. Now wasn't one of those times; his mentally tiring weekend having drained too much of his energy for him to racket his brain for obscure words to insult them with. "Would you please let me get the jacket off first though?" he wondered concernedly when they showed no signs of gracing him the courtesy of removing his favorite clothing items he had usually been allowed before. "It's Michael Kors, not that _you_ would understand anything about that."

"Not today," Azimio voice rang out from close by, surprising Kurt. The huge football player hadn't been part of the little gang when Kurt first spotted them, neither had the pale teen taken in his presence since then, not until now. It turned out the huge black boy was leaning up against the far side of the dumpster, his arms crossed as he watched on with far too much amusement as his friends accosted Kurt. "We've cut ya too much slack lately Hummel. It's 'bout time we showed ya who's the boss 'round here."

Kurt rolled his eyes. Like letting him salvage a few precious items from the horrifying contents of a school dumpster would ever bestow them such a role in Kurt's eyes. It was such a shame Neanderthal's like them would never understand that though. Or the simplicity of common grammar.

"Look," Kurt said, trying against all odds to break through with the thug and make him understand just how _expensive_ this jacket was. How many _months_ he had been saving every spare penny just to _afford_ it. "I know you had no clue in the slightest about what's good in fashion and what was not – I mean, just look at you," Kurt said, nodding towards the jock's clothing. "I expect little to nothing from people who voluntarily shop at Target, but this jacket was _designer_. It costs..."

"Oh my God," Azimio grunted, pressing the heels of his palms against his eyes. "Randall, Jenkins," he uttered, motioning for the two jocks at Kurt's sides. "Throw the faggot in before he tries to bitch our heads off!"

No sooner had the boy's re-firmed their grips of him before they'd let him go; the jocks tumbling down onto the ground one by one when they were positively pelted with snowball after snowball. Kurt could hear them shout out in slight pain when the white balls struck their faces and torsos, and whipping his head back and forth he watched as they held their reddening cheeks or necks – or in one unfortunate jock's case, directly over his eye.

"What the fuck?!" Azimio yelled – or, more accurately, screeched – eyes searching the surrounding area for their daring assailant. Kurt watched on as even more balls flew their way, though miraculously, none of them seemed to even come close to Kurt. There was however one ball of snow that landed smack against the side of Azimio's head. "Who the _hell_ threw that?!" the angry football-player screamed, eyes darkening with anger as he kept trailing his gaze over the schoolyard, the students still occupying it quick to tailgate their way out of there and away from the enraged bully.

Seeing the opportunity for what it was Kurt snaked his way around the littering jocks, wary eyes checking for a stray snowball flying his way in the process. But just like before there didn't seem to be any single ball aimed towards his slight body; all of them instead being hurled towards the confused and livid jocks.

Kurt had seen the boys bear similar facial expressions of hateful frustration before, though they were usually aimed at him when he had say something they couldn't understand. Whoever was behind this incursion would most definitely have to pay for it if located and found, Kurt could tell.

He desperately hoped whoever saved him back there would be clever enough to hide before Azimio and the other guys got to him. Or her for that matter.

"Hey, Kurt!" a somewhat familiar voice called out on his left, halting him where he was trying to slink his way undetected into the school. When turning towards the person calling his name, he was chocked to find just who it was.

Apparently the boy from the other day – Jack – had _not_ been a figment of his imagination out there to assert him of his own mental instability, for he was currently hurrying his way over to Kurt, a broad smile on his lips.

"Um... hi?" Kurt said questioningly, eyes huge as he stared at the older boy. The pale teen – could he even be counted as a teen? – was still throwing snowballs over his shoulder with the help of his staff, the snow flying back at the still lingering jocks and hitting them all over. Not that Azimio and his friends could tell where they were coming from though, for them the snow still appeared to come from all over the place. And now that he wasn't occupied with other matters Kurt could actually see how the balls took alternative routes after being thrown, making several sharp curves before actually finding their targets.

No wonder the jocks couldn't find their attacker; not only were the snowballs impossible to trace, but the boy behind them was actually invisible!

Well, to them at least.

"What are you doing here?" Kurt asked the taller boy, perplexed when Jack threw his arm around Kurt's tense shoulders and started dragging him off towards the schools entrance. It was one thing to have a boy from a fairytale approach him when he was alone and unwatched by his – most certainly – judging peers, and a whole other story to have him manhandle Kurt in the middle of the school parking lot with dozens of kids milling around. Who knew what they would think of his odd behavior should they notice.

"Was in the neighborhood," Jack shrugged, pointing his staff down to the ground at a spot of ice they were about to cross. Kurt watched fascinatingly as the spot was suddenly transformed and coated with a thick layer of soft snow. "Saw those assholes harassing you and figured you could use some help before they ruined your clothes. I know you're really passionate about what you wear."

"I'm not even gonna question you on how you know that," Kurt admitted. The answer would probably be far too overwhelming one way or the other, and he really couldn't afford another stint of passing out. Especially not with a handful of students mere feet away from him.

Besides, his fondness for clothes were one of the few things that were common knowledge; along with his name, sexuality and membership at the glee club it was the one thing people knew about him.

"Besides," Jack said nonchalantly, swirling his staff as he walked, "their faces were totally awesome. I really gotta prank them again sometime. Let me know if you have any ideas, I'm open to suggestions."

"I'll be sure to remember that," Kurt replied, only paying the Legend a sliver of attention. Instead he moved his eyes across the parking lot.

"What's wrong?" Jack asked, sticking his neck out to try and find what Kurt was looking at.

"I feel kind of weird talking to you like this," Kurt confessed self-consciously, his eyes wandering around the people surrounding them as they walked. He felt like they were all staring at him like he was mental – which he would sort of understand; to them he would appear to be talking to himself after all. "I feel like they're all judging me, thinking I'm schizophrenic or something."

"Oh, don't mind that," Jack waved off unceremoniously. "In the off chance that they do notice you 'talking to the air' they probably already thought you were crazy prior to this."

Oh gee, thanks, Kurt thought, grimacing petulantly.

Apparently Jack noticed his unease, stopping to look at him worriedly. "Oh, I didn't mean it like _that_ ," the hooded boy hurried to explain, eyes suddenly wide and panicked. "I _really_ didn't mean it like that. Please don't think that. I just meant-"

"I get it." Kurt interrupted, holding up his hand to stop Jack talking before beginning to walk again. "...I think. And I suppose you're right. I shouldn't worry about-"

"Kurtie!" a shrill voice shouted from behind him, and not long after a body had flung itself onto his back, latching on and giving him a tight hug as he briefly stumbled for stability.

"Hello Brittany," Kurt wheezed out, the blonde girl's arms squeezing tight around his throat.

Luckily for Kurt she let go of him not long after, hopping before and away from him, starting to skip her way backwards towards the school entrance, still looking back at Kurt and his invisible companion. Hopefully she wouldn't notice if he somehow acted a bit strange; her ditzy and unfocused ways shouldn't pick up his unease at being stuck between two conversations – one with the blonde cheerleader, and the other with a supposed fairy tale figure.

He couldn't help but squirm slightly in place as she took another little skip backwards, her eyes not straying from his direction as her smile shone ever so brightly.

His thoughts didn't take more than a second, and the next thing Kurt knew she was opening her mouth. "Hi Jack!" she called out, waving happily at them. Then she suddenly stopped, seemingly hugging something to her cheek. "Hi Baby Tooth! I missed you! How was Detroit?"

Kurt could only stay in place, his mouth falling open as his eyes widened in shock. She could _see_ Jack? She _knew_ him? Since when? How? Wha-?

"Hi Britts!" Jack laughed, and Kurt could see him smiling mirthfully when looking over briefly at him, probably enjoying Kurt's stunned expression. "Did you send your letter to North yet?"

Kurt could only whirl his head to stare at the pale boy beside him. What was going on? North?

"Yeah!" Brittany beamed, her ponytail swinging madly as she nodded. Kurt looked back at her, his eyes disbelieving. Were they pranking him or something? "Mom helped me find those weird stickers going on top of it a few days ago, and I sent it right after that."

The hooded boy beside Kurt merrily chuckled at the ditzy girl referring to stamps as 'stickers', and Kurt watched on in bewilderment as the two interacted.

"What did you ask for?" Jack asked curiously, eyebrows rising questioningly.

"Oh, just some things I need for my time machine. I'm sure he will give me them. I have been extra good this year," she explained sagely, nodding seriously at her words.

"Then I'm sure he will give you something good," Jack smiled kindly at her.

"Yeah-" Britt began, but was interrupted by the bell ringing out. "Oh! I have to go," she exclaimed, turning around and beginning to run up the stairs to the entrance. "Santana's meeting me at my locker," the tall blonde continued cheerily, looking over her shoulder with a huge smile as she left them behind. "We're gonna share some lady kisses in the janitor closet before math. See you!"

Kurt stared after the ditzy blonde with large eyes as she disappeared into the school.

What did just happen, he wondered to himself. There had been times when she had acted strange – talking about unicorns and whatever – and then there was this... This... This _thing_ that had just happened. Kurt couldn't explain it, not even in his own head.

"Girls like Brittany are so nice, you know," Jack pointed out as Kurt kept gaping incredulously towards the school's entrance where the flexible blond had disappeared. "It's so great that she still understands the world and it's mysteries, unlike most of you who lose that ability early on nowadays. It's too bad there aren't more people like Brittany out there. The world would be such a better place then."

"You- you know her?" Kurt coughed out, still not believing that the better part of the past ten minutes had actually happened. The chances that something like this were to occur – to him especially – were astronomical, if even that. Realistically it shouldn't had happened at all.

"Mhmm," Jack hummed, an amused smile forming when looking at Kurt's impressive impression of a goldfish. Kurt watched the taller boy as the white-haired boy opened his mouth again, but they were once again interrupted, this time by the second bell ringing out around them. Jack chuckled, "Though I think I should explain things to you later. You'll definitely be late if I do it now. You'll probably be late as it is."

That broke Kurt out of his confounded state, and with a rushed apology he hurried up the stairs, for once making an exception and practically hurling his way through the hallways so he wouldn't end up overtly late to his favorite class. His favorite apart from glee that was.

~*~

After that four day's went by with no sign of the strange boy.

Kurt couldn't say he hadn't expected something along those lines anyway, but it was still annoying as he kept twisting his head at every turn, expecting the curios pale teen to linger there every time he turned a corner.

At least his week had been gloriously free from tragic Neanderthals – if one disregarded the one instance early Thursday morning when Karofsky and Azimio had approached him carrying slushies.

Somehow though, their aim had been completely off, and they'd positively _coated_ the locker beside him instead. Which, as it turned out, belonged to their fellow team mate Strando, who was none too happy with the unexpected turnout.

And now he was out for the semester, with several long, free, happy weeks until the holidays were over and he had be forced to face those halls again. Glorious times were awaiting, truly glorious times.

But anyway, Jack _had_ implied they'd meet again, hadn't he? Kurt was sure he had, otherwise, what else could 'I'll explain it to you later' _mean_? That distinctly suggested that the pale-haired boy would return, right? There surely was no other explanation, there was just that small matter of... waiting. Which Kurt positively loathed.

He wanted answered. Soon, preferably.

~*~

"You know it's infuriatingly rude to be appearing and disappearing like this, right?" Kurt asked somewhat irritably a few days later, before the young Legend had even entered his bedroom properly. Kurt didn't even need to turn around from where he was, sorting through his moisturizers by his vanity to know that he was there, walking down the stairs on the other side of the room - he could feel it in the change of atmosphere.

The real question in Kurt's mind was why _that_ knowledge didn't bother him more than it did.

"People usually don't vanish off the face of the earth after speaking to someone, especially not after promising to explain things to them soon. If you keep at it I might get a complex or something," Kurt continued on sarcastically, bringing a tub of facial cream to his face to check it's expiration date, ultimately pleased with what he find. "Maybe I'll think I'm going crazy..."

"You can be just as dramatic as your mother, you know," Jack pointed out, falling down on Kurt's bed with a low groan, spreading out like a starfish on the soft bedding. "Man, your bed is awesome," he sighed, burrowing down into the pillows happily.

From his perch by the vanity Kurt rolled his eyes, grumbling quietly at his carefully tucked in covers being rumpled beyond recognition. And by someone that was virtually a stranger no less.

"Where had you been this week anyway?" Kurt asked, sniffing on a bottle of vanilla-scented cleansing cream, before squeezing out a small dollop of it onto his hand to examine it closer.

"Here and there," Jack answered sluggishly. Kurt could see his hand waving in the air through the reflection of his mirror. "A few villages in Russia and Scandinavia, some places in Canada... Mostly I have been around the states really. The kids in Wisconsin particularly seem rather fond of me."

"Russia..." Kurt whistled, not willing to say anything explicit, but he was jealous. Not of Russia specifically – the country seemed far too cold for his taste – but with how casually the other boy could mention the countries he had been to in the last days.

Kurt considered himself lucky if he was allowed to drive over and shop over at the mall in Columbus during the weekend.

"Nothing special really," Jack mentioned, shrugging, "I'm there to make the kids play, keep them believing in me. Let some of them see me... That sort of thing."

Kurt hummed as he closed the last of his bottles, patting his vanity dry from eventual spills with a towelette before he stood from his seat, instead walking over to sit on the end of his bed. "Must be fun to spend all day playing instead of doing math," he stated, somewhat enviously, to which Jack only nodded.

"It is. Nowadays anyway."

Kurt didn't respond to that – only crossed his legs and leant his elbows on his knees, chin resting softly in his palms. Hopefully Jack would continue without Kurt needing to wheedle the words out of the boy.

Before him Jack glanced up at Kurt, then promptly sighed. "Kids couldn't see me a decade ago. Made it frustrating trying to play with them."

"Why couldn't they see you?" Kurt asked confusedly, but quickly remembered his mother's stories. "Oh... They didn't believe in you?"

"Nope," Jack said, popping the 'p' loudly. "They didn't."

"But they do now?" Kurt asked curiously.

"Yeah. After a big crisis in 'Legend-land' or whatever they call it, kids all over began to see me. Don't really understand why though... But you won't see me complaining, it is way more fun throwing snowballs at kids that will actually try to throw back at you."

"I bet," Kurt said, imagining how horrible it must had been for the young Legend. "So nobody had been able to see you before this 'crisis'? Must have been lonely."

"Oh, there were all the other Legends of course," Jack shrugged, waving the comment off, before biting his bottom lip and glancing up at Kurt through his lashes. "And... your mother were always such a special woman."

"My mother could see you?" Kurt asked quietly, looking down at his feet. She never mentioned that.

"Yeah. You too," Jack added, "when you were very little... We met a few times."

"We did?" Kurt wondered, glittering eyes meeting Jack's blue ones.

"We did," Jack nodded, smiling softly. Then the smile fell. "But then... stuff happened," Jack explained, fiddling with his fingers, "bad stuff, things I couldn't deal with. And... I stopped dropping by for a while, and then your mother ended up in the hospital... It was the wrong time to visit you again."

"But now?" Kurt whispered, his heart aching slightly from the mention of his mother.

"Now," Jack sighed, "now things are different."

Kurt watched silently as the pale boy sat up straighter and ruffled his own hair as he sighed deeply.

"I mentioned there was a crisis a while back, yeah?" Jack asked eventually, a question to which Kurt only nodded. "Well, back then there was this guy – Pitch – who was tired of staying hidden in the shadows. Wanted to be taken more seriously, wanted to have more control over, well, everything. In a sense he was kind of like myself, only he was willing to do anything to get there. Bad things. Truly horrible, bad things. But you know how these things go, right? The good guys – that was us, by the way – defeats the bad guys, and poof, everything ends well. Well... now we think that he is back. And we don't think he is backing down this time."


	4. Chapter 3

The concept of there being a 'bad guy' out there somewhere in the world with the specific intentions of taking over the world through people's nightmares was more or less overwhelming, Kurt found. Especially so when learning just how close it actually came to happening not even a decade earlier, because what was there to say that this 'Pitch' guy wouldn't be able to succeed where he failed before?

At least Jack seemed confident enough that they would be able to stop this lunatic before it got to far, and Kurt truly hoped he was right. A world with nothing but nightmares seemed too horrible for words.

Luckily there were things that could occupy his time and take those frightening thoughts out of his mind for a while. Like learning all things about Jack and his world of magic while watching Disney movies in the Hummel living room a few days before Christmas. Burt was fortunately down at the shop for the time being – otherwise Kurt would never dared ask the questions currently lurking in his mind, lest his father overheard and believed his son had finally gone off the deep end.

"So the fairy-tales are all true then? There's fairies and goblins and trolls roaming across the Earth?" Kurt wondered aloud, and he would forever deny just how  _excited_ he sounded by the prospect. Such things just didn't exist; they're just that,  _fairy-tales._ And to be frank, Kurt was  _much_ too realistic to believe in such nonsensical things.

Right.

"No..." Jack dragged out, nose scrunching up at the thought. "No goblins and trolls this way, no. Though there are a few kinds of 'special fairies', if you want."

"Huh." He couldn't help but felt somewhat disappointed. And yes, he would deny that as well.

"But North – that is Santa Claus by the way – and the Easter Bunny are real. As is the Tooth Fairy – Baby Tooth insists on me calling her Toothiana – Father Time and Mother Nature..."

"Who's Baby Tooth?" Kurt quired, interrupting Jack. He remembered Brittany mentioning the name earlier, and he had heard Jack saying it off-handedly a few times by now, and here Jack went saying it again. Apparently this ' Baby Tooth'-person was someone important going by the number of times he had heard the name by now.

"Oh, I didn't tell you?" Jack wondered, looking back at Kurt with a smile on his lips. Kurt shook his head, feeling somewhat foolish, like the answer is obvious.

It truly wasn't.

"You've heard of the Tooth Fairy, haven't you?" Jack asked him, tilting his head slightly.

"Please don't tell me there's a giant tooth flying around here or something," Kurt stressed, eyes going wide.

"No," Jack snorted, shaking his head mirthfully. Kurt exhaled a relieved breath – one less thing to worry about. With the number of weird things being brought up in such a short period of time he wasn't sure he could take another strange fact like flying teeth. "No, no, no. Kurt, Baby Tooth is one of the Tooth Fairy's assistants. She is one of the 'special fairies' we talked about. She is about this big," he said, gesturing with his fingers the approximated size of this supposed fairy.

Kurt wondered how anyone could say something like that so casually, and with a straight face no less. There was no indication on Jack's face that he was joking, no hint that he had been messing with Kurt.

"You're not trying to tell me the Tooth Fairy is real, are you?" Kurt asked incredulously. Though the idea of it was riveting and exciting it just wasn't computing for Kurt. He had spent so many of his years denying the existence of anything otherworldly – that was apart from Jack of course. "That is just a story parent's tell their children to get them to brush their teeth!"

"You mean like I'm not supposed to exist since Elisabeth told  _you_ stories about  _me_ ?" Jack questioned, and Kurt had the decency to blush at that. Touché. "No, the Tooth Fairy does very much exist, just like you and me."

"So you're saying there's a tiny, little fairy flying about here, and that I couldn't see it? It  _is_ here, right?" he asked cautiously, glancing around the room covertly.

"Yeah, Baby Tooth's here," Jack laughed. "In fact, she is right in front of you."

"But there's nothi- AH!" Kurt cried when something smashed against his nose. Hands rubbing his sore limb he watched the air around him disbelievingly. "Jack..." he dragged out quietly, "what did you just do?"

"Oh, that wasn't me," Jack said, crossing his arms blithely. "That was Baby Tooth, and she was  _not_ happy that you couldn't see her, let me tell you that. But it  _is_ a good sign you felt her kick you. That means there's hope for you yet."

"What do you mean 'there's hope for me'? And- her?" Kurt wondered, eyes roving the empty air around him. Suddenly there was another smack landing on him, this time on his cheek, making it flare up in slight pain. "Oh, fu-" Kurt exclaimed, palming the warming skin, wondering if he would bruise later. Distantly he could hear Jack scold this supposed assaulter that it wasn't okay to hit people, but Kurt was much more concerned with the state of his face to care much.

His skin was unfortunately delicate when it came to such matters as it being hit, and in some cases simply touched a bit too neglectfully. He couldn't tell how many of the bruises littering his body had been caused by the jocks at school, and how many he had managed to gather himself by being clumsy.

Because of that he might need to douse it his cheek a healthy layer of moisturizers and other ointments later to lessen any potential damage to it. Or else his father would have a  _fit_ .

However, such thoughts disappeared from Kurt's mind entirely when, slowly, a tiny thing appeared before his eyes. At first it was just a small blue and green spot, but as seconds passed by he began to see the contours around it clear up, and soon he could clearly see the shimmering wings flutter behind the creatures back.

This must be the alleged Baby Tooth, Kurt guessed as his crystal blue eyes traveled over it's – hers – body. She was small, even tinier than Jack had hinted at, and her slight frame was dressed in the most airy cloth of various blue and green shades. She was staring back at him, her face curious as she flew closer.

"Um, hi," Kurt breathed, astonished that such a pretty little creature actually exists. As he watched she flew ever closer, so close actually that Kurt needed to cross his eyes to keep watching her. With no warning she sat down on the tip of his nose, tilting her head questionably for a moment, before the biggest smile broke out on her lips.

The noise that spilled out of her mouth however was nothing Kurt could distinguish past the shrill titter that it was. He couldn't make out a single word from the never ending spew of sound reaching his ears, and apparently his confusion showed, because not only did the small fairy cross her arms indignantly, huffing, but Jack almost fell off the couch from how hard he was laughing.

"What?" Kurt asked bemusedly, gently helping Baby Tooth down from his nose so he wouldn't feel as silly crossing his eyes trying to watch her. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing, nothing," Jack mumbled, trying to keep the laughter in. "Just Baby Tooth being Baby Tooth."

Kurt is never told exactly  _what_ the small fairy said to him that day, only that she was happy that the 'big human' was finally clever enough to realize she – and the other legends as well – were very much real, thank you.

~*~

Christmas was, as per usual, a quiet affair in the Hummel household. Neither Kurt nor his father were ever particularly excited about the holiday in the first place, what with the memories of his mother's passing and all, but the two of them celebrated it ever the same. They didn't just... go all out with it anymore.

There was the traditional Christmas tree of course, and a few scattered decorations littering the common rooms as well as some lights hung up on the porch and the likes.

There was small gifts and funny knick-knacks waiting patiently in the stockings by the fireplace, as well as a few presents laying beneath the tree, just waiting to be opened. One of which being addressed to Kurt that he  _knew_ didn't come from his father, one that was simply saying 'To Kurt' with a jolly Santa Claus sticker beside it. In it there was a small perfume bottle; his mother's old brand that had gone out of production years ago. The gift had brought tears to his eyes, and he only sniffled and shrugged his shoulders when his father asked who it was from.

"Thank you, San- North," Kurt had whispered quietly when his father momentarily left for the bathroom.

There was a small home-cooked meal that Kurt spent hours slaving over in the kitchen, wanting to get everything just right even if it was only him and his father there.

Mostly the two of them spend the holiday simply hanging out together and watching TV and the occasional movie from the couch, along with their own personal tradition of card games later during the evening when everything else had been dealt with. All of it was nice, pleasant, and Kurt enjoyed having the time to just curl up with his father on the couch and simply... be.

The two of them might had grown that much closer since Kurt joined the glee club that fall, since Kurt finally managed to gather up the courage to be honest about who he was to his father, but Kurt still missed how they would just hang out together whenever before all that. Nowadays most of his time was spent with various members from the club, and even more recently Jack had been claiming a lot of his free time, and quality time with his father had fallen a bit in the shadows because of it.

Being able to spend an entire day like this just with his father had been nothing short of wonderful, and Kurt was determined to find the time to do it more often. Just because he now actually  _had_ friends it didn't mean he should neglect his father because of it.

Shifting himself closer to his father Kurt allowed his head to rest upon Burt's shoulder, and closing his eyes the young countertenor permitted himself to drift off to the gentle sound coming from the TV. The last thing he remembered before falling asleep was his father’s hand softly stroking the hair away from his face, and in his sleep he gently shuffled himself ever so closer to his father and his comforting scent.

Christmas truly was a special and magical time of year, Kurt would reflect when he woke up a few hours later only to herd his sleepy father to bed before collapsing into his own.

~*~

Kurt hadn't particularly planned on going down to the park the day following Christmas, but somehow Mercedes and Tina had managed to rope him into accompanying them and the other glee members for a lazy day spent in the snow. He hadn't even grumbled half as much as he usually would have while bulking himself up in his warmest – yet fashionable – clothes, but had instead been somewhat excited at the idea of hanging out with his friends outside on such a gorgeous day. Even if that meant there was even the slightest possibility of getting sick, or, heaven forbid, ruining one of his favorite coats. His father had given it to him just the day before – a gorgeous piece that he had been vastly surprised to learn his father had picked out himself, though it only meant he cherished it even more – and if a day out in the snow led to its destruction there would be hell to pay.

Geez, if this was what hanging out with a creature controlling the ice and snow for a few days brought with it, Kurt might had to consider cutting back on meeting his new friend. Or possibly learn to go with practicality instead of fashion for special occasions. Both options made him shudder.

It truly was a beautiful day as well; the sun was shining down on Kurt and his friends as they settled down onto a plentitude of thick blankets strewn over the snow. Around them the snow was sparkling and glittering alluringly, and it didn't take the boys long before they were hooting and laughing as they pelted each other with it, starting an impromptu snowball fight mere minutes after they'd arrived at the park.

Kurt bowed out though, along with the majority of the girls – only Brittany and Santana joining the boys in their little game. Kurt enjoyed watching as the two girls effectively teamed up with Mike and Matt and completely owned the other three, Puck and Finn shouting disapprovingly at the unfairness even as everybody else laughed joyfully around them. Artie certainly didn't seem to mind the slight disadvantage as Tina was quick to pepper him with small uplifting kisses once he retreated from the scene not long after, and Kurt just had to smile at the adorable couple.

"So how was Christmas, boo?" Mercedes had asked him later, a while after even Puck had stopped stuffing snow down Finn's jacket, and sat herself down by his side on the thick blanket.

Kurt, who had been watching Santana and Puck help Brittany build a small family of snowmen, looked over at his best friend and smiled tentatively. What was he supposed to say? 'It was rather amazing actually. I recently met this guy who can control snow, and he's told me so much about this world we never even knew anything about... And yeah, by the way, did you know that the Santa Claus  _actually_ exists?' Yes, that would certainly go over well...

"It was... really good," he eventually settled with, a more genuine smile on his face than the one he had given her earlier. It wasn't like he was lying or anything, as he really enjoyed a great Christmas with his father after all. The fact that he had spent a lot of the time leading up to it with someone that realistically shouldn't even exist was just something that was best for him to keep to himself.

Beside him Mercedes only raised an eyebrow curiously, obviously understanding that there was more to it than that, though she let it go with a lenient smile and a tiny shake of her head. A small laugh escaped her lips as she leant her body against his, resting her cheek on his shoulder. "I'm onto you," she said, looking over at their friends for a moment, before drawing her eyes back to him, "but I won't ask. For now."

Kurt simply gazed down at his best friend as she settled against his side, and as the recognition that he truly had  _the best friend ever_ rolled over him, the pale countertenor threw his arm around her, hugging the dark diva to his side. He knew how curious she could be, how she sometimes seemed to simply  _crave_ gossip – after all, it was something they very much had in common – but this was easily something that would fly right over her head.

"You're amazing, 'Cedes," Kurt told her honestly, as he locked his pinkie to hers, a silent promise that someday he would tell her everything.

"I know," she answered him simply; a hint of sass in her voice, and it wasn't long before they were both chortling with laughter.

The day continued on in a similar fashion with one or more people drawing the others out into the snow to play and just plain horsing around while other's happily watch on from their perch on the blankets. Kurt himself even allowed Brittany to drag him along for a while when she had wanted his help to build a snow castle, as she had wanted it to be 'absolutely magical, and could he please use his magical horn to make it all kinds of awesome?' Sure, he had blushed furiously at her words, and even more so when Santana had positively howled with laughter and made all sorts of crude jokes during the following hour, but he had promised the blonde to help in what way he could.

In the end the castle had turned out sort of amazing with a plentitude of towers and even a moat running around the whole thing. The best thing about it however was how happy Brittany looked when they finished, how she was jumping in place while clapping excitedly, sporting the biggest smile Kurt had ever seen from the ditzy cheerleader.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" the girl had chanted as she had hugged him, and Kurt had laughed happily as he had hugged her back.

"You're welcome, Britts," he had said, allowing her to pull him with her back to their friends, where she had fallen into Santana's lap to babble on about how little snow fairies would hopefully like their castle and move into it. If not, a family of squirrels would surely appreciate it, she had exclaimed confidently.

At the moment though Kurt had been listening patiently to Rachel and her latest 'ground-breaking' ideas for glee club for the past fifteen minutes. It hadn't been long into her spiel when he'd begun searching the area for things to watch, as listening to the girl continue to drone on about a subject not really relevant for another three weeks was rather tiresome. It didn't help that he was afraid he might bite her head off if he actually listened to her words, which he was sure contained more than a few insults regarding him and the others, even if Rachel herself didn't see it as such.

So yeah, he was people watching.

That was when he noticed a small group of children playing together in another part of the park, a bit away from their own group. It wasn't however the children that grabbed his attention, but rather the tall, pale teenage boy that was playing with them.

It was interesting watching Jack play merrily with all the little children, how he would allow them to crawl all over him and stuff snow everywhere they could reach, how he would get them to shriek with excitement when helping them ride their sleighs down the small snowy hills in the park at top speed, and how he would just smile indulgently when the kids would inevitably pelt him with snowballs behind his back.

It was all rather adorable. Kurt couldn't help but wonder if the Legend would ever experience what it was like to had a child of his own. He was clearly great with them.

"-and I mean, of course me and Finn will have to get the leads as it's in the best interest of the club should we want to win, and- Kurt? Are you listening to me? Kurt!" Rachel interrupted his thoughts, shaking him back to reality. When Kurt looked back at her, she had her hands on her hips, and her eyebrows were raised high upon her forehead, a feat considering her squinted eyes.

"I'm sorry Rach, you were saying?" Kurt asked the energetic singer, an apologetic smile on his lips that he hoped didn't look too fake. He really wasn't sorry for losing his focus on her, but it was a splendid day and he wasn't too keen to ruin it by fighting with the often-times self-centered diva.

Looking at him for a split second longer, Rachel seemed to contemplate his sincerity, making Kurt want to wince under her scrutiny. For if it was ever tedious and tiring listening to one of her many tirades concerning the glee club and how it would ultimately lead her onto the path of stardom, it was far worse being on the end of one of her lectures of why she shouldn't ever be ignored. The speeches had so far tended to be saved for either Finn or Mr. Shuester, but Kurt didn't want to take any chances. He liked his ears the way they were, and listening to her for that period of time was a surefire way for them to either begin to bleed or even fall right off. That was if he didn't rip out her vocal cords first.

Ultimately the short diva seemed satisfied with his 'earnest' apology, for her expression softened, and with a forgiving pat to his hands she was quick to continue on her previous train of thought. "As I was saying, Mr. Shuester really should..."

That was about as far she got before a loud shout came from behind them both; and when the two of them turned around they found themselves looking at an ecstatic Brittany who was grinning like crazy.

"Jack!" the blonde called happily, waving her arms around in the air as she bounced in place. "Jack! Hi! Over here! Jack!"

Kurt just smiled at her, as he knew exactly who she was seeing, unlike the other glee members who were looking between the excited cheerleader and the group of young kids with confused eyes. It was understandable though, Kurt mused as he looked at their frowning faces. Kurt himself would have been one of them not a month earlier, before he learned the truth himself. Then he bit his lower lip to keep from laughing, imagining how their friends would reflect should they know just who Brittany was looking at, as well as how many of her 'non-sensical' comments over the years actually made sense when knowing the context behind them.

Looking back toward the flock of children Kurt's eyes quickly zeroed in on Jack where he was crouched low with several small snowballs hovering in the air around him, just waiting to be thrown towards the playing boys and girls. As Kurt watched, Brittany finally managed to gather the young Legends attention, and as Kurt watched on he saw how Jack looked over at her, his eyes lightning up with recognition before waving back to her. Kurt waved himself a little as the Guardian's eyes travelled to him, before covering his mouth with his hand when one of the smaller children managed to smack a big patch of snow right against the side of Jack's head.

Brittany didn't seem to have the same reservations though, as Kurt could hear her giggle behind him, and especially so when Jack blinked surprised before turning and grinning goofily at the young girl guilty for the snowball. And when Jack began to chase the small child, soon catching her tiny frame and tickling her wherever he could reach, Kurt himself couldn't keep a quiet snort of laughter from escaping his throat. From the corner of his eye he could see Rachel looking at him strangely, something that didn't bother him nearly as much as it should – he was far too busy taking in the playful sight of Jack and the adorable children.

In fact, the pale boy had quickly gathered all the rambunctious little children around him, whispering to them quietly between short looks towards Kurt and his friends. Whatever was he up to, Kurt wondered to himself, a small smile forming on his face.

The answer came soon enough, when all children turned around, facing them, and together screamed out, "Hi Brittany! Hi Kurt!" before quickly scattering back to their previous games.

Kurt could felt himself blushing heavily, though he joined Brittany anyway in shouting a small hello back, despite the fact that only Jack was still keeping focus on them. The big grin the older boy shot them was worth the slight embarrassment though, as it made Kurt's insides heat up pleasantly.

But, knowing without a doubt what would come next should he not act now, Kurt broke eye-contact with the Guardian and stood, walking over to Brittany and looping his arm with her's. Hastily offering that the two of them go and buy some hot chocolate for the group, Kurt was quick to herd Brittany and himself away from the group before Mercedes – or worse, Rachel – began questioning him what all that was about, and did he know those kids?

"Do you think Jack wants some chocolate too?" Brittany asked him once they were away from their friends, her gaze locked on the small vendor truck as she pondered on. "And did you see Tooth? She might want a cup as well."

"No, I didn't see her Britt-Britt," Kurt answered the girl distractedly, searching his wallet for money.

"She is probably working then," Brittany concluded sagely. "But we really should buy some from Jack, I think. He told me once he didn't really get cold or anything, but my feet wouldn't be so happy if I walked around all day without shoes. I know, I tried."

"That's... nice?" Kurt said hesitantly, frowning lightly as he looked up from his wallet. "But you're right, we can get one for him as well. If nothing else I'm sure Finn would take it."

"Right," Brittany glowed, grabbing his unoccupied hand in hers and swinging them between the two merrily during the short walk they had left. She gracefully allowed Kurt the use of his hand whilst ordering and paying for their chocolates, but was quick to snatch it back up when they turned back, carrying one little bag each filled with steaming cups.

"Jack is totally cute, you know," Brittany mentioned out of the blue as they walked, and Kurt nearly choked on nothing as he swirled his head around to look at her. Had she really just said that?

"What?" he asked her, eyes nearly bugging out of his head.

"He is totally cute," Brittany repeated, smiling widely. "He almost let me make out with him once, but he left before I could kiss him. He told me Toothania would get mad if I kissed him, and that she wouldn't give me any money when my last milk tooth came out. I was thirteen."

"Toothania?" Kurt asked, perplexed.

"The Tooth Fairy," Brittany explained shortly, distracted by a squirrel in one of the trees.

Of course Jack would have a girlfriend, Kurt reasoned, and of course she had powers of her own, was part of his world. What was surprising though, was how much the knowledge hurt. Why did it hurt? He couldn't possibly... Could he?

"...what do you think?" Brittany asked him, still swinging their hands between them.

"About what?" Kurt wondered dazedly, staring at the ground before him, struck with the realization that he  _likes_ Jack, if even just a little. He wasn't supposed to like the Legend! He was supposed to like Finn! Tall, simple Finn who saved his wardrobe from dumpster tosses. Beautiful, kind Finn who couldn't even bring himself to hit Kurt with slushies if it meant saving his own skin. He was not supposed to like only-allowed-on-Earth-during-the-winter-months Jack!

"...That Jack is completely cute, duh," Brittany explained slowly, rolling her eyes as if Kurt was nothing but slow on the uptake – which, at the moment, he wholly was.

"...Yeah, I guess he is," Kurt answered quietly, eyes trained on the path before them even as he heard the laughter of their friends come closer and closer – thus meaning that  _he_ as well was once again within watching distance.

"You know," Brittany mused, squeezing his hand, "you and Jack would be super hot together! You don't have any milk teeth left, right? Because then you totally don't have to worry about Toothania not giving you a coin for any dropped teeth anymore. You should definitely make out with him!"

"I don't think so Britt-Britt," Kurt muttered, finally looking up, his eyes immediately finding the boy in question. Kurt watched as he was lifting a big ball of snow onto another one, helping the children with making their snowmen. The sight made his chest clench uncomfortably.

Shit, he really did like Jack Frost didn't he?

But however much he would like to do something about it Kurt wouldn't want to get between Jack and his girlfriend, he had seen what cheating did to people, and he did not want to be the cause of that sort of pain. And that was just on the off chance that Jack didn't mind kissing boys. For all Kurt knew the young Guardian was one hundred percent straight, what was to say Kurt had any sort of chance whatsoever?

"Why not?" Brittany asked, bumping her shoulder to his, smiling sadly at him. She might not be the best with knowing all sorts of school-related facts, Kurt knew, but she was extremely good with people and picking up on their moods. To him that was possibly an even better kind of smart than the one that being good at math and science entailed.

"I don't think it's a good idea, Britt," Kurt told her sadly, not delving into the issue any deeper than that and hoping that she would accept his answer for what it was.

Which she did, with a small shrug of her shoulders. "Shame though, you two would had been completely awesome and hot."

"Yeah," Kurt sighed, looking over at the Legend for but a moment before shaking his head, willing himself to drop the issue. "Now, come on Britts. I think the guys are thirsty," Kurt smiled, indicating their friends who were all looking at them. Some of them – like Finn, which wasn't really that much of a surprise, and Quinn, which was a surprise, though that could be a result of the pregnancy or something – seemingly ready to barge the two of them down if it meant getting them their drinks faster.

The two friends shared a smile before ultimately reaching their group, Kurt at once finding himself accosted at all sides by friends ready to collect their prices. Kurt chuckled at his friends antics, but obligingly handed over drink after drink until only two remained; one of them meant for himself, and then the one Brittany had meant Jack should get.

Though when Kurt looked over at the boy he found the Guardian ever engaged with the children, and Kurt doubted he would get the Legend his drink before it ran cold. Thus it was far from a hardship giving the final drink to Finn when he undoubtedly asked about it.

"Thanks, little dude," Finn smiled goofily, chugging the second cup just as quickly as the first.

The words of gratitude warmed Kurt's heart, and the smile outright caused his stomach to flutter. It all made him think that maybe he had been too hasty earlier when thinking he might like the tall Legend that had recently entered his life.

So of course Kurt had to look, just to see if it might just had been a mistake, but when seeing the pale Guardian sporting the greatest of smiles and consoling one of the little children who had begun crying for whatever reason, Kurt knew he hadn't been wrong. In fact, the butterflies in his stomach were far more violent than they had ever been when looking at Finn.

He was completely and utterly screwed, wasn't he?


	5. Chapter 4

_One of Kurt's more common 'nightmares' was one where the jocks ganged up on him and collectively tossed him into the dumpster. Only, it was always a dumpster filled with the most disgusting and gruesome of trash, and Kurt was – as in all of his dreams, naturally – wearing clothes he could only, well,_ dream _of owning and wearing. The garments were always out of this world beautiful and gorgeous, and simply dreaming about them being destroyed beyond repair in such a fashion as they were in his dreams seemed nothing but sacrilegious._

_This was a nightmare he was frequently subjected to, unfortunately._

_This was also the nightmare Kurt found himself trapped in the night before he was set to go back to McKinley for the new spring term._

_Though, this time the dream didn't stop there like it usually would. Instead Kurt merely was there, motionless in the filthy dumpster, eyes clenched shut and waiting for himself to wake up. Because yes, Kurt knew it was a dream, he had early on learnt how to tell dreams from reality, at least those of this sort._

_But no, for once Kurt didn't seem to be waking up any time soon. He had lain there for what felt like hours, just waiting, but nothing was happening._

_So he opened his eyes, wondering what was amiss. Why was he still trapped in this hellhole? He should have woken up long ago, drenched in sweat and grieving the destruction of such wonderful fashion designs even though they were nothing but imaginary. Instead he was here, waiting, wondering. But why?_

_The dumpster was dark, the lid shut tight above him and giving just the barest hint of sunlight into this foul place. The smell was positively foul, reek with months old groceries rotting below him, around him,_ on him _. It was quiet, not even the faint sound of his rumbling bullies coming through the steel walls around him._

_Suddenly Kurt felt that something was wrong. It was not even simply the fact that he hadn't yet woken up that was wrong anymore, it was something far more concrete than that._

_There was something else in there with him._ Someone _else._

_Heart pounding madly in his chest Kurt stared into the darkness, eyes unblinking as they were searching for the intruder. The blackness around him didn't give anything away though, but he knew it was there, whatever_ it _was, watching him._

_Kurt tried to open his mouth; to ask what was there, to call for help, Kurt doesn't know, but he knew he must produce_ some _sort of noise. If only to felt less useless. Nothing comes out though, not even his labored breaths were making any sound anymore. The dumpster was completely silent._

_It was ridiculous really, Kurt reflected, that a dream could scare him like this._ Especially _considering how he_ knew _it was just a dream. But he had never deviated like this from his nightmares, they had never lasted this long or changed character so gravely. He had never hung in such suspense in any dream of his._

_This was all a first._

_Suddenly there was movement before him in the dark. He could still see nothing, could only faintly hear the low rustling of fabric as it rustled against itself and the trash beneath it. His heart rate picks up, and he swallowed nervously, his throat suddenly dry as the desert._

" _Who- who's there?" he croaked, eyes wide as he stared into the blackness. "Who's there?"_

_No sooner than the question was out there Kurt could clearly see as two yellow orbs come closer, two orbs that Kurt instantly knew were eyes. And though bright in color, they seemed nothing if not dark, malicious, hateful._

_A voice rings through the compact space, a voice which Kurt just knew wasn't spoken, a voice which Kurt knew was simply within his mind. A gravely voice, dragged out and raspy – the most evil sound Kurt had ever heard. The voice only said three words, just three, but they were enough to frighten him to the core._

" _I see you."_

Eyes flying open Kurt instantly scrambled his way out of bed, flying across the room into his private bathroom, and subsequently threw up into the toilet. As he stayed there for hours, heaving out every smidge of food from his stomach, one lone thought swirled around in his brain, etching itself stuck, leaving him absolutely petrified.

Pitch had found him.

~*~

The end of Christmas break brought with it a whole new set of worries than he had ever had before. Not only was Kurt abruptly thrust back into the world of homework and bullies, but knowing there was someone out there with the intent of harming his new-found friends as well as taking over the world one nightmare at a time... Not to mention how he had already managed to find Kurt...

Let’s just say Kurt's stress-levels were higher than ever.

Then there were these new confusing  _feelings_ just messing up absolutely everything. For years Kurt had been in love with Finn, yet now, after a mere month of hanging out regularly with Jack, things couldn't have been more perplexing and unsure. Finn was still his charming self; a bit slow on the uptake with Kurt's more witty quips, but even then wearing that silly little smirk that had made Kurt swoon for years, along with his enchanting doofus ways. And then there was Jack, whose laugh makes Kurt positively  _ache_ , and whose easygoing nature had Kurt relaxed the moment Kurt could feel his presence.

These  _feelings_ which were only worsened by the fact that Jack had a girlfriend – had been  _having_ a girlfriend apparently for at least  _three_ years at this point, if Brittany's statement was anything to go by. It didn't help how that statement was the  _only_ thing Kurt had rely on. Because no, he had not asked Jack about it, instead Kurt had been waiting patiently for the Legend to come clean about it himself, or at least hint that he in fact had a girlfriend.

Which he very well might had, if the sheer number of stories Jack told about this Toothania was enough of a hint. That wasn't to say Kurt didn't hear a lot about the other Legends and Guardians as well, but Kurt chose to neglect that particular fact. The truth was that most of the stories Kurt did hear about involved either Jack, Toothania, or both.

It really wasn't all in his head. Or, at least Kurt didn't think it was.

The conclusion to all of his problems was rather simple though; Kurt would just have to push all of these new, unwanted  _feelings_ for Jack aside, and truly focus on those already tried out and reliable feelings for Finn. For being in love with Finn was something he was well acquainted with, something that was easy, something that was safe.

None of that mattered at the moment though, Kurt knew, as he was watching a familiar trio of jocks approach him in the parking lot just a week after school had started up again. It was a wonder he had lasted this long without a morning toss into the dumpster; really, he had expected one the first day back. Especially after that nightmare he had experienced that first morning – a dream he had yet to tell Jack about as well, not wanting to worry the older boy.

Anyway, it seemed his luck had finally run out as he found himself about to be cornered by the three lumbering athletes. It was only fitting wasn't it, how it was his three biggest tormentors – Karofsky, Azimio and Strando – that were about to re-introduce him to the dumpster after several weeks without it. His back had just about gone back to its normal color, but Kurt knew that just this one single dumpster dive would result in an explosion of bruises later.

They always did.

"Hello boys," Kurt greeted the football-players as they were coming ever closer, his voice dripping with dry sarcasm. "I anticipate there is no point in me asking you gents how your holidays were, as I'm sure you spent the most of it lost in your own caves with your fellow Neanderthals. I'm glad you located your way out though, school would be so tedious without the lot of you livening it up."

"Did you just insult us?" Strando questioned sourly, before looking over at his team mates. "I think he just insulted us."

"I think you're right," Karofsky grinned, obviously gleeful at the prospect of finally being able to bully the school 'homo' regularly again.

"Just what were we gonna do about it?" Azimio smirked, cracking his knuckles in a clear attempt to seem menacing. Kurt mostly found him laughable, though he was wise enough to shut up about that.

"Seems right that the fag should hang out with the other thrash 'round here," Karofsky sneered.

"Sounds good to me," Azimio simpered. "Sound good to you, Strando?"

"Sound good," Strando replied, smiling evilly.

"Very well then," Karofsky concluded, nodding his head towards Kurt. "Let's get him."

Kurt truly wanted to roll his eyes; Gaga could the three jocks be any more ridiculous? Somehow he found it within himself to refrain from it though, instead choosing to observe them with watchful eyes as they came even closer than before.

Suddenly there was a flash of white in the corner of his eye, and before Kurt knew it he was watching the three athletes tumbling gracelessly to the ground, a big patch of slippery ice now resting beneath their breathless bodies.

Kurt listened to them whimper and groan pathetically for a few seconds longer, before quickly scampering away from the site. Goodness knew what they might do to him when they eventually got up – because surely they would find a reason for all of that being his fault.

As Kurt briskly walked towards the school entrance he saw Jack sitting decoratively in one of the trees close by, his staff balanced carefully on one of his dangling feet as he watched Kurt hurry past. Kurt gave him a half-wave in thanks, and smiled softly as the boy waved back.

~*~

Later that day when Kurt was walking from one class to the other down the McKinley halls Brittany sidled up with him, once again resuming her favorite past time involving Kurt and began swinging their hands between them.

"So," Brittany drew out, watching where their hands were swinging back and forth between them transfixed, "I heard Jack like, totally saved you this morning. So, I wonder, is he your penguin or what?"

"My- my penguin?" Kurt questioned confusedly, a clear frown across his forehead. He might had gotten far better at translating Brittany-speak these last few weeks, but there was still times when she perplexed him beyond help.

"Yeah," Brittany hummed, tilting her head thoughtfully. "Like how Mumble always tried to help Gloria. I don't know if penguins do that for real, but I like to think they do."

"Mumble... Gloria..." Kurt muttered as he reached his locker, before rolling his eyes when recollection hit. "You're talking about Happy Feet, aren't you?" He sighed when the blonde only nodded happily, extracting his hand from hers to open his locker. "Then no, I don't think he is my penguin. How did you even hear about that anyway?" he asked, looking at her where she had leant against the lockers beside his.

"Baby Tooth told me," Brittany said seriously, gesturing towards the tiny fairy on her shoulder. Only then did Kurt take notice of the small tooth fairy, and nodded once at the colorful little creature who was kicking her feet from her perch on Britt's shoulder.

"Hi Tooth," Kurt greeted, and was thusly met with a high-pitched squeak he couldn't understand in the slightest, something his expression clearly conveyed as the fairy huffed and crossed her arms sulkily, another short spew of noises leaving the fairy's mouth.

"Don't worry Kurt," Brittany told him with a smile on her lips. "She didn't mean that."

Kurt wasn't sure he wanted to know exactly  _what_ the fairy hadn't meant, and decided to let the matter go. It was the safest way of keeping his sanity in the least.

The small fairy tittered once more in her loud pitch, and whatever what was said it resulted in Brittany grinning hugely. "You're right, Baby Tooth!" Turning to Kurt Brittany smiled apologetically. "I totally forgot I was supposed to meet up with Santana and Puck in the math wing right now. Gotta run Kurt. See you!"

And just like that Kurt found himself alone once again, blinking owlishly at where there moments earlier had been a bouncy cheerleader. As always he was amazed at the blonde's ability to more or less disappear on the spot, as he was sure she had completely vanished from the corridor in less than a couple of seconds.

McQueen what he wouldn't give for that talent, he thought as he moments later was pushed against the row of lockers by a passing athlete. At least the hit hadn't been bad, and he might even be left without even a bruise to signify the event.

"Kurt, are you okay? I totally saw that, it was like he didn't even see you dude," a familiar voice came from behind him.

Turning around Kurt smiled up at the lengthy giant before him. "Well, hello Finn Hudson," he grinned, before wincing when his neck throbbed gently. Maybe he had been hit harder than he had originally thought. "And yeah, I'm fine, just sore. It'll be okay by lunch," Kurt swore, leaning back against the locker so his neck wouldn't hurt as bad when he bent it so he had be able to look Finn in the eye.

"You sure?" Finn wondered, "I'll totally like, beat him up or something."

"That will not be necessary, I assure you," Kurt answered primly, as he loathed any sort of violence, though secretly ecstatic that Finn would go to such lengths to defend him. It reminded Kurt of why he had fallen for Finn in the first place, and reinforced his conviction of why this thing with Jack was only an infatuation, if anything. Lifting his hand Kurt placed it lightly on Finn's arm, squeezing gently. "I'll be okay, don't worry."

Choosing to ignore the way Finn looked around them before squirming out of Kurt's grip Kurt watched on as Finn gave him a final, tight-lipped smile and a "Sounds good, dude," followed by a brief shoulder pat before stomping away again.

As Kurt watched the lumbering teen stalking around the corner he wondered what the tight feeling in his chest was. Because for the first time, Kurt couldn't tell if it was because of longing, or because of disappointment.

~*~

_Once again Kurt dreamed that he was caught in the dumpster, the lid as always locked and impossible to open. He could hear the jocks as they walked away, could hear them laughing and high-fiving each other as they left._

_For once the nightmare wasn't_ as _horrible as usual; this time he had found himself only wearing the polyester uniform Sue Sylvester had presented to him that morning. And honestly, it kind of felt good to know it was covered in all sorts of filth and mold. He probably would have doused his_ real _uniform in left over’s as well, if it didn't bring him the safety it did at school._

_Not even Karofsky or Azimio dared mess with Sue Sylvester, or any of the people on her squad for that matter._

_Hoping he would wake up soon, Kurt began twiddling his fingers impatiently, closing his eyes to wait._

_Then he felt the same presence as he had done the last time he had dreamt this dream, his heart-rate immediately picking up at the recognition._

" _Pitch?" he whispered, body stilling as he felt cold shivers running up his spine when a familiar laugh boomed._

" _You recognize me," Pitch said, moving closer. "I'm honored."_

" _What do you want?" Kurt asked him, voice shaking._

" _For now? I want you to look at me," he answered, voice dropping low._

_Remembering his reaction to the last – and only – time he had looked into those eyes, Kurt_ really _would prefer not to. "Anything else?" he asked, sticking his tongue out to wet his crackingly dry lips._

" _Nothing you could provide in this place," Pitch laughed disdainfully. "Come on, just one look."_

" _Just one?" Kurt questioned._

" _Just the one," Pitch promised. "And then you'll wake up, just like last time. Though, you should try not to throw up when you do like last time."_

" _How do you know that?" Kurt breathed, spooked at the concept. Maybe he should think about talking to Jack about this after all? This guy was clearly psychotic._

" _I have spies everywhere. Now come on," Pitch goaded, "look."_

_And Kurt did, only seeing pools of yellow as he did._

Waking, Kurt stared up at the ceiling, his heart in his throat. This was his second nightmare in as many days.

Somehow he knew there were many more to come.

~*~

"Come on Kurt," Jack begged him with a chuckle, "just one snow angel. I promise we can go inside after that."

Almost a week had passed since the incident where Jack had helped him with the jocks, and Kurt found himself being goaded into various little 'games' by his new best  _male_ friend. He didn't dare refer to the Legend as simply his best friend, he always had to add that little male part, even in his own mind, for he feared what Mercedes might say should she find out.

The truth was though that Jack had quickly grown into one of his very best friends, if not  _the_ best friend. They simply had so  _much_ in common; a few things being their snarky humor, their pendant of using sarcasm in any given situation and their shared fondness of winter... Of course, Kurt mostly liked the season for it was fashion possibilities, but still!

Something the countertenor didn't particularly like about the chilling season was playing in the snow, but with Jack as a friend that was sadly inevitable, and he would have to learn to resign himself to the whims of the white-haired Legend sooner or later if he wanted their friendship to work.

"Okay, fine!" Kurt relented, throwing his arms up in defeat, before allowing Jack to drag him up and over from his cozy perch on the bench to the more unsullied pieces of snow.

They had been sitting in the backyard of the Hummel residence for almost an hour by this point, simply talking and whatever, and Kurt had stupidly enough confessed to never having made a snow angel before. Jack had sputtered for a few beats before immediately launching into exactly why they would need to remedy that at once.

The word 'sacrilegious' had once or twice left Jack's mouth during his speech. As had the term 'poor, deprived child.'

Easing himself down gently onto the lustrous and powdery snow Kurt looked up at his friend. "Now what?"

Laughing, Jack threw himself down beside the countertenor, at once letting his arms and legs fly out, raking the snow away and forming a perfect angel. "You have fun!" he exclaimed, eyes filled with mirth as he challenged Kurt wordlessly. And one not to be bested Kurt heaved a big breath, dropping himself down onto his back and following Jack's lead, star fishing his limbs and pushing the snow away from his body.

It was... unexpectedly fun, Kurt found, barking out a laughter of his own as he leaped up to watch his creation, before quickly finding another patch of fresh snow and marking it as well. Quick on the uptake, Jack too threw himself into making another snow angel, before they made another two, and another two, soon finding themselves trying to one up each other in making the very best one.

There wasn't a single piece of untouched snow left behind when they at last slumped down onto the bench once more, chests heaving with joyous laughter. Kurt's entire side was hurting from laughing too hard, but he couldn't stop, especially since just looking at the other boy sent him into another bout of chuckles. Jack didn't seem to be any better, arms clutching his stomach as his eyes crinkled, mirthful tears rushing down his cheeks.

"That was fun," Kurt eventually admitted between small chuckles, wiping a few stray tears of his own from his cold cheeks.

"Told you," Jack teased, adjusting himself so he had facing Kurt fully, and rested his elbow on the back of the bench, his head now leaning in his gloveless palm. "But you didn't believe me, you thought it would be  _boring_ ," Jack said, grinning teasingly.

"I know, I know," Kurt smiled, mirroring Jack's position. "You were right. Go ahead, gloat or whatever."

"...It's no fun when you give me permission," Jack whined, crossing his arms and sticking his lower lip out in a pout.

Kurt chuckled silently at the sight. How old was Jack really? Five?

"Alright, you big baby," Kurt grinned, "don't gloat then."

"Naw, it's too late now," Jack grumbled, shaking his head and dropping his arms. "It's not gonna be fun anymore."

"Poor you," Kurt acquiesced, smirking.

"Exactly," Jack agreed, leaning his arm over the back of the bench again, this time resting his head directly onto it, and closed his eyes. "Poor me."

Kurt only hummed, watching the older boy before him silently. Jack somehow seemed more... peaceful, than Kurt had ever seen him before, more at ease. Like he trusted Kurt to such a degree that he could allow himself such luxuries, that he could let his guard down without feeling either in danger or exposed.

Kurt wouldn't lie, it was a nice thought.

It didn't hurt either that the Legend was awfully cute when relaxed like this.

"Hi."

The whispered word brought Kurt out of his thoughts, and he found Jack watching him with a sleepy smile on his face, his eyes tired, yet mischievous, probably from having caught Kurt staring.

"Hi," Kurt whispered back, feeling his nose and cheeks warming slightly from the embarrassment. Not really because Jack noticed him looking, but because of what he was thinking. Jack had a girlfriend! Kurt shouldn't be thinking of him as cute, and especially not 'awfully cute', like he had been moments earlier.

Shaking himself to get rid of the thought Kurt sat himself up completely, missing the way Jack's eyes had dropped lower on Kurt's face, and when the pale countertenor had finally talked himself into looking at his friend once more, Jack's eyes were once again trained on his.

"So," Kurt began, eyes falling down to where he was twiddling his fingers. "I have kind of wondered about something. Why me? I mean... why did you suddenly decide to spend so much time with me? I'm nothing special. Not really. There must be so many other people out there who you could hang out with like this."

Jack smiled at him sadly. "You're plenty special Kurt, please don't try to tell yourself you're not.

"But still," Kurt argued, shaking his head, "why me?"

Jack sighed, sitting himself up straighter, facing himself away from Kurt so he was now looking out over the garden. "For the past sixteen winters I have watched you grow up Kurt," Jack began, "I have seen you discover snow for the first time, I have seen you play in it – I have played in the snow _with_ you more times than you could count. I have seen you discover and learn so amazingly many things over the years; many things people take for granted, many things that are good to learn, that will give you wisdom. But I have seen you learn some things I really wish you should never have known."

Kurt didn't say anything, just watched his friend as he struggled to find the right words.

"Of course you aren't the only child I ever watched grow up, that isn't at all what I'm saying, but there usually comes a time in every kids life where they stop believing in me, when they forget I'm real. And now, now that I'm one of the Guardians and I have children all over the world believing in me, and as their belief is the only thing keeping me strong, keeping me alive, I stop watching those children that don't. It's sad but I just don't have the  _time_ to keep track of every child that grows up anymore. Not when my very existence is dependent on the children that still believe in something... more."

At this the pale Guardian turned around, looking Kurt straight in the eye. "You never  _stopped_ believing. Do you know how rare that is? Apart from you and Brittany there's like, a handful of people over the age of  _ten_ out there in the world that still believe in me, and most of them will probably stop believing within the next  _year_ ."

Turning back to his previous position Jack continued. "Your mother once asked me to look after you – and I have always tried to abide that wish – but even if she hadn't I still would have made sure you were okay. Hell, I probably would have kept you out of harm even if you  _didn't_ believe in me anymore.  _That's_ how special you are."

There are tears in Kurt's eyes; he never would have believed the older Legend thought so highly of him. Reaching over Kurt took one of Jack's pale, big hands in his, squeezing it for all he was worth. "Thank you," he said, shifting himself closer.

"You're welcome," Jack mumbled, smiling up at Kurt before dropping his head again.

"But- why now?" Kurt couldn't help but ask, looking down at their joint hands. "I mean... If you've 'looked after me' like you say you have for years now, why hadn't you interfered with the jocks until now? What was so special about that time in December?"

Huffing out a laugh Jack turned his face back to Kurt. "What the real question is," Jack pointed out, raising one eyebrow as he smiled softly, "was why this was the first time I allowed you to  _see_ me while I took care of your bullies."

"What- what do you mean?"

"Oh, come on Kurt," Jack sighed, rolling his eyes fondly. "Don't tell me you haven't noticed how often that lid on the dumpster is frozen solid when they're planning on chucking you in during the winter, or how they often 'slip' on patches of ice on the ground when they are coming after you. You don't think it was weird how often those slushies they throw at you mostly lands on the lockers behind you and only a small bit of them actually gets on you?"

"Of course I hadn't thought about it! That is just-" but now that Kurt did think about it, he did recall quite a number of times when things had happened  _exactly_ the way Jack had described them. He could recall many a moment over the last few years when his bullies had been deterred by such things like frozen dumpster lids, or gushes of wind rustling positively huge amounts of snow down onto the unsuspecting jocks from the trees towering above them, and many more situations of the sort. The jocks also seemed to have a rather lacking aim during the winter months when they would try to strike him with their ice drinks, just like they had  _this_ winter – but back then he would just shrug it off, thinking they were still cold as hell from walking back and forth to the small store across the road from the school where the slushies were sold. "-crazy..." Kurt finished, voice nothing more but a whisper, a thoughtful frown appearing on his forehead.

Huh, he had never thought about any of that before.

Shit, had he been stupid. Or blind. Or both.

"Nice to see you figured it out," Jack teased, back to his more happy-go-lucky attitude apparently.

"Oh shut it," Kurt grinned, nudging the Guardian's shoulder with his own. Looking down though he quickly dropped the smile, and beginning to play with the fingers he was still holding on to he whispered out a small "thanks", to which he was given an equally quiet "you're welcome" in return.

They sat there for a while longer like that; side by side and Kurt playing absentmindedly with Jack's fingers, tracing them with his own gloved ones. That was until the wind picked up and Kurt shivered from how cold it had gotten in mere minutes. At which point Jack softly cursed, before quickly throwing an arm around Kurt's lightly shivering shoulders, gently guiding him back inside.

The long, bone-crushing hug Kurt was given before Jack left was enough to turn his stomach to mush, and as he headed to the basement to change into something warmer – and dryer – Kurt couldn't give a damn about feeling guilty for enjoying it as much as he did.


	6. Chapter 5

With watchful eyes the cloaked figure gazed into the barely moonlit alley, looking for any signs of somebody lurking amongst the shades, before ultimately deeming it empty and stalked forward. Casting weary glances around himself all the while, he ventured deeper and deeper into the space, hoping he wasn't being followed.

Again.

The last time he had been here he had caught glimpses of a shadow lurking in the peripheral of his eyes, and he had been forced to retreat before the hiding place had been revealed. It wouldn't do to let anyone who shouldn't know about the only safe place left on earth or any of its neighboring dimensions.

Luckily he seemed to be alone this night, and quickly shuffled himself into the far right corner of the alley, finding the small ledge in the bricks, and with a careful look around himself, pushed it. Instantly a tiny ball rolled out of the crevice, pressing itself between the bricks and into his palm, his fingers folding themselves protectively around the marble.

Making sure that there still wasn't anybody out there watching him, he tossed the marble to the ground, shattering it, and for a split-second, watched the beautiful portal opening up beneath his feet, before feeling himself falling through it.

"There you are Jack!" a rumbling voice greeted him when he landed, and whilst the temporary portal closed above him Jack pulled the hood off his head, his eyes meeting North's grinning face. "Thought you might ditch us again," North continued, catching him in a fierce hug, easily making several of the bones in his back creak worryingly.

"Ooo-kay, North, we talked about this," Jack breathed out in between painful gasps, struggling to breathe. He always forgot to duck when his big and jolly friend set out to give him hugs, always forgot how his ribs would hurt for days at a time each time he had met up with the man.

It wasn't even like North simply gave him  _one_ hug when they saw each other, no, it was usually around a minimum of three or four, no matter how short a time they would hang out.

"Right, Jackie," the huge Russian mumbled, dropping him back down to the ground. Pressing a palm to his side Jack smiled through the ache to show the big softie that he really was okay, and that he hadn't been hurt like that one time...

"Please tell me you didn't break him North," a voice sounded behind them, and turning Jack came face to face with the Easter Bunny, his arms crossed and one of his big feet quickly tapping the ground. "We can't afford to have the little prince whining for weeks like last time."

"Oh Roo," Jack smirked teasingly, clutching his hands together and pressing them to his heart, pretending to be touched. "I knew you liked me."

The big bunny ignored the teasing, but slitted his eyes anyway. "For the last time mate, I'm no kangaroo. I'm a bunny. You see the ears? Yeah, no 'roo's got two of those on their pretty little heads now do they?"

"Yeah, yeah," Jack waved off, grin plastered on his face. "You know you like it."

It was funny watching how the hair all over the Easter Bunny's face and neck rose stiffly, and Jack was certain that beneath all that hair was a deep red – angry – flush.

It was all too easy to get the poor guy going.

"Guys," a female voice whined from beside them, and soon enough Toothania flew between them, forcing them to step away from one another. "Be nice, I don't have much time before I have to go back and make sure my assistants are all doing okay. You two have to give it up if we want to get anything done." The flying woman then turned to Jack solely, her whole body tilting as she smiled and fluttered her eyelashes. "Hi Jack," she breathed, giggling like a little teenage girl.

"Hi Tooth," Jack smirked, flashing her his teeth in a wide grin, sending her giggling and just about falling over as her eyes glazed over momentarily.

"Gross," Bunny mumbled, sulkily crossing his arms and looking away.

Feeling something tugging his hand Jack looked down to see Sandy pulling at it gently, and the golden man smiled up at him when he noticed Jack looking, before pointing to the table on the other end of the room and tugging his hand once more. Allowing himself to being led to where North had already slumped down into one of the big cushy chairs Jack followed his example and sat down in one of his own.

It hadn't been long since North had last summoned them here, though of course Jack hadn't been able to show up for safety reasons. This was after all the one place Pitch couldn't get to, as he as of yet had no idea how to find it. It wouldn't do to just invite him in by being careless.

The room had been created by the Man in the Moon, specifically done so that there would be nowhere to hide for Pitch, as there was no such thing existing as a shadow in this particular dimension. They had been given permission to use it to discuss how to take care of the threatening Legend, though it had been unnerving to travel here at first, not being able to see one's shadow no matter how one twisted and looked.

"So," Jack began, looking at North. "What's up Santa? What did Pitch do this time?"

Dragging his big palm over his face and beard North heaved a big sigh, leveling them all with a serious gaze before opening his mouth. "The Groundhog has gone missing, guys," his deep voice grumbled as he sat up straighter in his chair.

"What?" Bunny exclaimed, his ears shooting straight up. "That is the third this month!"

"I know, I know," North huffed, placing his hands palm down on the table before him. "Pitch is up to something, we all know that already."

"What do you think he is planning?" Toothania asked worriedly, her wings fluttering nervously behind her.

Jack watched Sandy as he made his sand form into some of the different Legends, how they suddenly all wore handcuffs chained to one another before a final figure in the form of Pitch stood alone, throwing his hands up into the air after putting a big crown on his face, the Earth round beneath his feet.

"Well, yeah mate," Bunny agreed, "of course Boogie wants that, but just  _how_ did he plan to do that? It wasn't like he managed last time he tried."

This time Sandy simply reached out both hands, a grimace on his face as he formed his sand to create handcuffs around them.

"You really think he had gonna try to catch us?" North asked the small golden man, looking around the table at the different Guardian's. "All of us?"

A big 'YES' formed above Sandy's head.

"How?" Toothania asked.

Sandy put a small finger to his cheek, tapping it a few times before shrugging, allowing a multitude of question marks to form around him.

Silence settled over the five Guardians as they pondered the question. Jack wondered as well; what  _was_ Pitch's plan? Was Sandman correct in assuming Boogie wouldn't rest until they were all in shackles, with him as the sole Legend left to reign supreme of the whole human race as he pleased. And if he were, would they be able to stop him? It had been a close call last time, what happened if they weren't as lucky a second time around?

Shit, what would happen to  _Kurt_ if they didn't stop him, Jack wondered, a plentitude of horrific scenarios rushing through his mind. And what would happen to Jamie, to Brittany, to all the little boys and girls worldwide?

"Does it really matter  _what_ Pitch have planned?" Jack asked, looking up at North. "Isn't the important thing here to find a way to stop him? Because so far, nothing we have done have seemed to work, has it?"

"Boy's right," North mumbled, scratching his chin through his beard.

"Just what do you think we should do, mate?" Bunny asked, raising an eyebrow questioningly. "It's not like we can just go knock on his door. Not after he re-directed those tunnels of his. And I don't know about you, but it's not like I can just dig my way there." Looking at Sandman he added a muttered, "Not that you guys didn't make me  _try_ ," to which Sandy nodded, patting the bunny comfortingly on one knee.

"Yeah, Jack," Toothania said, leaning closer, a sad smile on her lips. "What do you want us to do? He is too clever to step out of his shadows, and we can't just look into every corner of the world."

"I don't know," Jack admitted, lowering his head so his bangs fell in front of his eyes. "But we have to try something."

Sitting back the youngest of the Guardians looked at his friends, his colleagues, and wondered whether or not they would have what it took to take Pitch down, whether their best was enough.

~*~

"Hey Jack," North addressed Jack just as he was about to follow the others when they left, "Would you hang on a minute? I need to ask you something."

"Sure Santa," Jack replied, looking back at the others and waving, Toothania almost tripping over in her haste to wave back. "What's up?" he asked when they had all disappeared seconds later.

"I heard from Tooth you started hanging out with that Hummel kid a lot these days. Are you sure that is such a great idea?" North wondered, resting a heavy palm upon Jack's slight shoulder.

"What?" Jack huffed, recoiling from his friend's touch. "Because he's a human?"

"No, no no," North hurried to correct. "Not because he's just a human – though that is another thing we should discuss, you know we shouldn't interact with them too much, it's against the rules – but because you put that boy in harm now that Pitch is up and about again."

"I know," Jack sighed, slumping in on himself. "I promised Elisabeth that I would keep him safe though. I'm not backing out on that promise."

"And you don't think keeping your distance is what might actually do that?" North wondered, raising his eyebrows. "You don't think hanging 'round him all the time won't just make old Mr. Boogie go after him that much sooner?"

Biting his lip Jack looked down at the ground. "I don't know. But I want to be close if Pitch does do something. And anyway, if you're right it's too late now. Pitch has his spies everywhere, he might already know I care for him. It will be so much easier for him to take Kurt if I leave his side at this point for too long."

"Okay, my friend," North relented, clapping his back repeatedly, sporting a huge grin. "You care for him, eh?"

"Oh, stop that," Jack grumbled, blushing furiously. Yes, Kurt Hummel was... fairly attractive, but he had watched the kid grow up since he was in diapers. He had watched the kids mother grow up for snow's sake! It was inappropriate thinking like that.

"You sure you don't... fancy him or something?" North teased, smirking through his beard.

"No, I don't," Jack replied vehemently, though North didn't seem convinced.

Making huge kissy faces the burly man began to sing, horribly off key one might add. "Kurt and Jackie, sittin' in a tree, K-I-S-S-"

"What were you? Five?" Jack interrupted, grimacing as he could felt his face heat up at the very thought of... doing  _that_ .

"Five and a half," North replied proudly, beaming.

~*~

When Jack finally escaped from his friend's clutches and returned to the alley the sun had begun to rise slightly in the east, casting the buildings around him in a rosy light.

Kurt would have loved to see the sunrise, Jack thought as he watched the colors play against the walls, then followed the stray thought with a blush. It was only because of his Russian friend that his mind had conjured the idea up right then, he told himself with a small shake of his head, nothing more.

Self-deprecating smile in place and staff leaning over his shoulder Jack made his way out of the alley, head down as he began his way down the street.

"Well, well, well," a familiar deep voice rumbled from behind him not many feet into his walk, and Jack was quick to spin around, staff pointed straight at the intruder. "If it wasn't little Jackie coming back from a midnight council with the other members of the Goodie Two Shoes Club."

"Pitch," the Legend hissed.

"Glad to see you remember me," the dark figure smirked, not looking up from where he was picking his nails. "Though it wasn't that long since we last met."

"You mean when your own nightmares chased you away screaming?" Jack asked tauntingly, smirking when Pitch glared at him.

Relaxing, Pitch smiled. "I see the other's haven't made you lose your humor yet."

"I was actually going for the truth," Jack replied, still as weary as before. "It was an awful spectacle back then. We laughed about it for months."

"I'm sure you did," Pitch answered nonchalantly. "But you see, nightmares can't kill me. I'm their source, they would be extinct as well if they even tried. You saw exactly what I chose to let you see."

"And what exactly did we see then?" Jack questioned, eyes narrowed as he stalked closer to the tall figure.

"You saw me backing down when I had already lost the battle, it didn't mean you won the war," Pitch sneered, before softening his features into a gentle smile. "The war, the war is for me to win. You see, the one constant in life for humans is fear, which is why it won't take long before I rule this Earth." Tilting his sickly pale face Pitch added, "I will be caught dead before letting you softies ruin the people with your presents and pennies."

"You might get your wish then," Jack answered, raising his staff higher, advancing quicker than before on the other Legend, "I'm not above killing you if it means that you will leave the humans alone."

"Like the Hummel boy?" Pitch asked, looking up through his eyelashes.

Freezing mid-step, Jack stared at the dark Legend, eyes bugging out of their sockets.

"You think I didn't know?" Pitch grinned. "My, my Jack, it's like you don't know me at all. I have known since the day you showed yourself to him back in December."

"What are you planning to do with him?" Jack whispered, terror racing trough his veins and turning his blood to ice.

"For now? Nothing. But if you stand in my way Jack," Pitch explained, standing up from where he had leant against the wall. "Then I might rethink the issue."

With that he was gone, quick to slip into the shadows. And Jack, too preoccupied worrying about Kurt, didn't notice until it was too late, at which point he cursed himself for not killing the Legend when he had the chance.

Turning, Jack sprinted a few steps, before leaping into the air, needing to make sure Kurt was okay.

~*~

Landing softly on the lawn in the Hummel's backyard Jack padded his way into the house, making his way to the basement silently. There was no chance of Mr. Hummel hearing him, but it was better to not take any chances, just in case.

Slipping his way down the stairs Jack hurried over to the bed, finding Kurt sleeping there peacefully. At least Pitch hadn't lied. Yet.

It was nice seeing Kurt so peaceful and relaxed as he was just then. He had acted so strange for the past month or so. Ever since he joined that cheerleader group really.

Jack had been to one of Kurt's earliest performances; a little stint they did that first week after he joined the group, when they'd performed a number in the auditorium. He had stood front and centre, a big smile on his face when they had all come out. It hadn't matter where he had watched from; there were only two people in that whole room that could see him, and they had both been performing before him. Brittany had shot him a big smile and a small wave when she saw him, but Kurt had positively lit up, a smile so big it threatened to break his face.

In the end Jack had left before the number had even ended, as his stomach had begun acting up. It had been doing this really weird fluttery thing, almost like he was going to be sick, except he knew  _that_ hadn't been it. The feeling hadn't lasted long, but it had concerned Jack for hours after.

And then there was the whole thing with Kurt setting up his father with that one kid's – Finn, a boy Jack remembered being rather clumsy in his youth, even before he got all gangly and lost whatever control he had once had on his limbs – mother, a lovely woman named Carole. Jack had thought the whole thing had been stupid from the start when Kurt first mentioned setting the two up, especially since Jack suspected Kurt had a thing for the son.

Kurt wasn't really subtle, now was he?

Because of that there had even been a while – a short while, thankfully – when Kurt had pretended to like girls. He had even fooled poor Brittany into making out with him. Jack had laughed when she had told him what a 'super great kisser' Kurt was, and how he was the 'best boyfriend ever'. Jack had never thought he would see Kurt so beat up over something his own father would do, and no matter how much Jack had tried to make him see reason Kurt wouldn't be persuaded.

Luckily Mr. Hummel had managed to fix things himself, but it would take Jack a while to forget that he had been the cause of all that in the first place.

Smiling softly when Kurt snuffled in his sleep and brought his hand up to scratch at his nose, Jack watched as a stray curl of hair fell down over Kurt's eyes, tickling his eyelashes and making him twitch. Reaching over the young Legend carefully slid the curl back into place, his heart thudding when he noticed how Kurt was leaning into his faint touch.

Had North been right? Did he really feel something for this boy? This human boy who meant more to him than anyone had ever done before – maybe even his sister, who he had once died for? This human boy, who within a few years would be older than Jack himself, and who would continue to grow older every year, while Jack would remain an eighteen year old for the rest of his time on Earth?

Jack took one more look at the sleeping boy, and he knew.

Fuck.


	7. Chapter 6

_Kurt was dreaming again, he knew he was. It was one of his regular nightmares, though not the one he had dreamed so often lately, where the jocks locked him into the dumpster before the Boogieman found him._

_No, this was another one._

_It was as mentioned another one of Kurt's regulars, but also one he loathed more than all other's, especially as he seemed to dream it a particularly great deal on the days leading up to the anniversary of his mother's death._

_The dream would always begin with him laying in a casket at his funeral, and he would watch himself as the people he knew and loved came up to him and said their goodbyes. The last number of times he had suffered through the dream this part had gotten longer than it had ever been, as there was now another dozen people needing to tell him their farewells._

_He always had trouble looking into Mercedes' eyes the day after this particular nightmare had plagued him. And for some reason, Mr. Schuester as well._

_After that he would suddenly be lowered into the ground, no longer watching on from the outside, but rather laying trapped inside the forsaken contraption, that no matter how hard he fought would never budge. He would pound his fists against the wood until they were aching, scraching his nails against the roof until they were nothing but bloody stumps, and he would scream his throat raw, but he never would manage to escape his prison._

_Unlike the dream in the dumpster, Kurt never had known exactly when this dream would come to its end, as it usually lasted until his dream-self passed out from exhaustion, or his actual screams had managed to wake his father two stories up back home. Those times Burt would wake his son up mid-dream, and Kurt would cling to him for the remaining of the night._

_He somehow doubted this was one of those nights. With his latest track record of nightmares, Pitch would not allow him to wake before they had met. The thought only made him thrash harder inside the casket, needing to find his way out before the Boogieman would find him._

_Kurt wondered if he should have told Jack about his dreams, his nightmares. He wondered if the Legend could do something about them, or if Kurt had been right all along, and Jack would only worry even more on his behalf._

_He hadn't told the Guardian about that first dream yet, nor of the dozen that had followed since. He hadn't mentioned how the creature of the night had terrorized his dreams for months now._

_Kurt knew he wouldn't tell Jack of this dream either, nor of the next one, or the one following that. He couldn't._

_It was becoming hard to breathe in his confined space now, and the knowledge only served to make Kurt throw his entire body repeatedly against the wood. Deep inside he knew it wouldn't do any good, but he still made the effort. Some day he would beat his nightmare, just like he had hope that Jack and the other Guardians would beat Pitch._

" _You know they won't," the raspy voice Kurt had grown uncomfortably familiar with responded to his thoughts, the sound ringing through his mind like it always did._

_Closing his eyes Kurt hoped he would be spared from looking into those pools of disgusting yellow, just this once._

" _That wasn't nice Kurt," Pitch tuts at him, but Kurt could hear him chuckle mere seconds later. "Then again, you're never nice to those you don't like, are you?"_

" _Leave me alone," Kurt pleaded quietly, lungs aching from the lack of air._

" _You know how to get me to leave Kurtie," Pitch goaded, whispering into his ear._

" _Don't call me that," Kurt breathed, voice even fainter than before._

" _Oh Kurtie, you don't mean that," Pitch said, taunting him. "Now come on, open those pretty eyes."_

" _I don't want to," Kurt whimpered, gasping, trying to get the last pieces of air down into his oxygen-deprived lungs._

" _If you do you will be able to breathe again Kurtie," Pitch bribed him. "Now come on, open those baby blue eyes of yours. Come on Kurt. Just one look and you're free." A snort rang through the casket, startling Kurt who was turning fainter by every second. "For now, at least," Pitch added through his laughter. "Just look at me Kurt. Look."_

_He was running out of oxygen now, and still he didn't seem to be waking up any time soon. Could one die in a dream? And if one did, would one die in real life as well? Deciding not to risk it, Kurt steeled himself, however little he could, and used the remaining tiny strain of energy left in his body to slowly open his eyes._

_The last thing he saw was the specks of yellow staring straight back into his own eyes, then he passed out._

Sitting straight up when he woke Kurt grasped his own throat, chest heaving as he gulped in air as quick as he could. He was panicking, hysterically trying to breathe in time and time again, not exhaling long enough to allow the air to actually leave his lungs.

It took him a long time to calm himself down, and when he finally did he found himself crying messily into his pillow.

Eventually, he sobbed himself to sleep.

When he woke up once again in the morning he was glad to find he hadn't dreamed again, and curled his arms around himself as he cried silently into the bedding, wishing that Jack was there to hold him.

~*~

"How long have your dad been dating Mrs. Hudson again?" Jack asked one night, looking out through the curtains of the living room window to look at where the old mechanic's car was pulling out from the driveway, heading in the direction of the Hudson house.

Turning the page on his magazine Kurt didn't look up as he answered, "Almost three months now. Why do you ask?"

"Nothing particular," Jack shrugged, letting the curtains fall from his grip. "It's just strange thinking of the two of them together, I've gotten used to them both being alone for so long." In his peripheral vision Kurt could see the Legend slump down in his father's armchair. "Tell me again, why did you set the two of them up?"

Biting his lower lip Kurt pretended to be really into his magazine, even though it was an issue from the month before. "Just thought they would like each other."

"Hmm," Jack hummed disbelievingly.

Licking his fingertips Kurt turned another page, trying to sound as he had just making conversation when he continued. "Dad's thinking about asking them to move in."

For a moment there was absolute silence coming from the other end of the room, and Kurt had to steel himself not to look up and see for himself how his friend was reacting to the news.

"Isn't that a bit soon?" Jack eventually asked.

"Dad said 'why delay the inevitable,'" Kurt answered, tapping his finger on the back of the magazine. "It's obviously happening sooner or later, so why not sooner?"

"And what do  _you_ think about it?" Jack wondered.

Closing his magazine Kurt looked up at his friend. "I think... That it's great my dad has found someone again. And if they like each other well enough to want to live together... then who am I to stop them?"

Nodding thoughtfully Jack leant forward, eyes down on the carpeted floor. "So you being happy about it has nothing to do with Finn moving in?" Jack questioned quietly, not looking up from the ground.

Opening his mouth Kurt gaped like a fish for a moment. Dropping his eyes to the floor as well Kurt replied softly. "I... I'm happy for my dad, I guess." While it wasn't really the answer to his friend's question it was not a lie per say either, Kurt reasoned, as he truly was happy for his father now that they had worked through their problems concerning it. It was not the  _whole_ truth though, more an omission of it.

The complete and utter truth was that the majority of why Kurt was so joyous about the impending future was that this might finally make Finn see that they were meant to be, that spending more time with Kurt might make the sweet athlete finally  _see him_ .

The mesh of their families might also be what  _Kurt_ needed to finally get over his... interest with another certain friend of his, a friend who was happily committed to a girlfriend of his own, and who Kurt would never have a chance with. Living with Finn might finally convince  _Kurt_ that it was the tall jock that he was supposed to love for certain. Not a certain snow-yielding boy who Kurt couldn't stop thinking about.

"Are you sure?" Jack asked, Kurt completely missing the almost  _pleading_ hint in his voice.

When Kurt looked up he could see the Guardian looking back at him, an unreadable expression on his face. "Yes," Kurt said, only hesitating for a second, but a second too long.

Kurt watched as Jack stood up, his eyes following the young Legend confusedly as he walked our of the room, and watched his friend as he stops hesitantly in the doorway.

"Where..." Jack began, before clearing his throat and starting over. "Where would Finn sleep? There's no guest room in this house."

Swallowing harshly Kurt turned his head away, looking anywhere but his friend. "I suppose... the basement is rather big, isn't it?"

Silence lingered between the two boys for a minute longer, before with a short, resigned nod Jack walked away, leaving the house without saying goodbye.

Kurt sat there for a while longer, wondering what the hell just happened.

~*~

_Kurt was beginning to think he was doomed to dream nothing but nightmares lately. This was the third one this week, horrible as it was, for it was only Thursday._

_Kurt was not even sure what this dream was about, not really. He had just appeared in this jet-black darkness, and he hadn't been able to find away out of it since. It was a lucky thing he was not particularly scared by the dark, otherwise he would be in trouble. As it was, he was fairly sure he was just waiting for the same thing as always._

_Wonder how long it would take Pitch to show up this time?_

_Not all that long, it proved._

" _Hello Pitch," he grumbled, keeping his eyes tightly shut. He wasn't particularly afraid of what might happen around him, it was mostly the man himself putting the fear inside his head. Kurt might only have seen his eyes so far, but it was enough to know how splendidly_ evil _the man were. "Hello Kurtsie," Pitch greeted him, sounding sly as always. "Heard you're getting a new brother soon, that must be fun."_

" _Step-brother," Kurt corrected quickly. His plans concerning Finn wouldn't work if they were_ actually _brothers, step-brothers sounded incestuous enough for his tastes. "Why do you care?"_

" _Nothing in particular," Pitch admitted, and Kurt could hear the smirk in his voice. "Might be fun to get another boy to torture through dreams. Though, from what I've heard about the boy, I might need to go a bit simpler to get through with him. Apparently he's not the brightest crayon in the box."_

" _Finn is perfectly clever, thank you," Kurt interjected glumly. "But why would you do that? He won't be able to_ see _you, remember?"_

" _Oh, I don't need_ that _to have_ fun _," Pitch laughed. "I've heard he's afraid of spiders. Torturing him with_ those _will be fun enough."_

_Growling at the thought of the Boogieman hurting his friends, even simply through nightmares, Kurt stepped closer to the voice. "If I open my eyes right now, will I wake up? You're getting tiring."_

_He could hear the man laugh before him, and grimaced at the vile sound._

" _Yes Kurtsie," Pitch said jovially. "If you open your eyes, you will wake up."_

" _Good," Kurt said, and opened his eyes._

The yellow still burned his eyes when he woke up, but for once he wasn't shivering in fright after one of his nightmares. Instead he was angry.

Very angry.

~*~

A week later, while Kurt was redecorating his room, awaiting Finn's arrival, he didn't think about  _why_ he was doing it. He didn't think about  _why_ he had set up his father with Carole. He especially didn't think about  _why_ it was so important for Finn and his mother to move in with them so soon.

In fact, Kurt didn't think much at all as he fluttered around. He steeled himself not to. Thinking about it wouldn't do him any good. Thinking about it would only serve to make him confused. Better to just... just fold that throw blanket, and adjust that privacy partition. Correct the tassels hanging from that lamp. Simple tasks that he could focus solely on.

And then, when leading his new roommate into the transformed bedroom, things certainly didn't go the way Kurt had planned them to. Not that he knew what he had wanted to achieve anyway. He did know that it certainly hadn't been the anger Finn had displayed; not the way he had thrown around his carefully placed blankets, not the furious words... not the hostile slurs that he had never imagined himself hearing coming out of the athlete.

But what had hurt most of all though wasn't the anger, it wasn't the implications Finn had made about Kurt being a girl, or the slurs leaving Finn's mouth. No, it was the realization that this...  _infatuation_ he had bore for so long on the tall quarterback, that it was gone. Completely. It hurt to realize that, to understand and know just how  _long_ it had been since he had gotten over this crush. And it especially hurt when Finn didn't believe him when he told the boy that he had understood that there would never be anything between them, that he had accepted that Finn was painfully straight.

Not so much because he had finally come to terms with Finn's sexuality, but because his own emotions and feelings had changed so drastically from how they were just a few months back.

' _You think I don't know why you got so excited that we were gonna be moving in together._ '

Truthfully, Kurt didn't even know the answer to that himself. To him, it didn't compute why he reacted so positively to the news mere days ago. Now, staring at the blatant truth like he was, he didn't understand why it had mattered at all.

That was why he lashed out furiously himself – that coupled with everything else. His nonexistent feelings, Finn's hateful words. The confusion roaring through his mind.

"I quite like it," a quiet voice admitted behind him.

Kurt didn't answer, just burrowed his teared up face further into his palms and cried. He couldn't deal with Jack at the moment, couldn't deal with kind words meaning to lift his spirits right then. No words in existence could alleviate his broken mind, and what certainly couldn't mend his broken heart was assurances about what he had done to the basement.

He knew it looked good – sure, he might had gone somewhat overboard with his Moroccan theme, but it  _did_ look good.

It was not his decorating skills he was questioning.

"You didn't deserve that, you know," Jack continued, moving slowly through the room. Kurt could hear him stepping closer. "Finn has no idea what he was speaking about. And I'm not just talking about the room."

Breathing deeply Kurt dried away the wetness from his cheeks, looking down at the comforter from his position on his bed. "What were you doing here Jack?" Kurt sighed tiredly. "You've been gone for a week."

Hearing the Guardian walking over he felt a hand settle on his shoulder, and he suppressed the shiver that wanted to take over his body. It was  _so_ not the time for him to felt like this about the older boy. "I thought you might need a friend if... things didn't work out the way you wanted them to."

Huffing out a self-condescending laugh Kurt tilted his head, glancing up at the pale boy behind him. "And just how did I want things to turn out then? You seem to always have the answered."

"Not like this," Jack said, sitting down behind Kurt on the bed, but unwilling to be just so close to the boy he had such conflicted feelings about Kurt moved away, walking over to the couch and picking up the blanket Finn had carelessly untangled. Beginning to fold it up he listened to the Legend as he sighed, and could just imagine his friend raking his fingers through his silvery-white hair.

The image made his heart clench, and Kurt dumped the re-folded blanket angrily over the back of the couch, cursing himself for having fallen for a guy he could  _never_ have.

Walking to the other side of the room Kurt began to tear down his new decorations from the wall, unleashing all the anger he had as he set about getting his room back to what it had been before he had turned it into... This.

Shit, had he been stupid.

About to rip one of the huge red curtains from where they hung from the ceiling he felt strong arms wrap around him, forcing him still, no matter how much he tried to wriggle his way out of Jack's embrace.

"Shh, Kurt," Jack whispered in his ear, holding him close, "just calm down."

"No," Kurt hissed under his breath, mindful of his father upstairs, struggling harder to get out of the Guardian's hold. "You don't get to tell me what to do! You don't get to tell me what to  _feel_ ! If I want to be angry, then hell, I'll be angry!"

"Of course you can be angry Kurt," Jack told him, hugging him ever closer. "But you shouldn't ruin yourself because of it. You will hate yourself if you broke anything in your rage."

"Did you ever think that maybe I  _want_ to break something?" Kurt bit out, successfully shaking himself out of the taller boy's grasp. Turning around Kurt pointed his finger in the other boy's face, "Did you ever think that maybe this was all  _your_ fault? I never asked for you to come into my life! I never asked for you to worm your way into becoming my friend! I never..." realizing he was almost about to tell Jack of the feelings he felt for the other teen Kurt threw his hands down, turning around. "Maybe I didn't ask for any of this to happen," he bit out quietly, feeling his throat choke up as tears began to form once more in his eyes.

"Kurt..." Jack began behind him, reaching out a hand for him, but Kurt shrugged it off before it had a chance to rest completely on his body.

"Maybe you should leave," Kurt begged quietly, hugging his arms around himself as the tears began to fall down his cheeks again. He had never felt so exposed in his life, and he just wanted to be alone to wallow in solitude.

He listened as the Legend began to walk away, sobs beginning to take hold of his body as he heard footsteps walking up the stairs. He heard the knob began to turn, before the door was ultimately pushed back into place.

"You know what?" Jack's aggravated voice rang out, still low enough for his father to miss should there ever be a possibility, as the Legend hurried back down into the room. "No, I will not walk out of here, not until you talk to me Kurt."

Choking around his sobs Kurt said as levelly as possible, "I don't know what you want me to say Jack."

"I want you to tell me why you're so angry," Jack begged him softly, walking around him and lifting Kurt's flushed face up so their eyes were locked. Like this Kurt could see that he wasn't the only one who had been crying, as Jack's eyes were red-rimmed and swollen, with wet tracks swirling down his face. "Please," Jack added.

Face crumpling Kurt threw himself into his best friends arms, just howling out his misery into the other boy's bare neck. "I'm angry because I'm afraid, okay?" Kurt sniffed against the taller boy's skin, fingers clinging desperately into the blue hoodie beneath them.

Arms sneaked around his shoulders and back, hugging him much closer than he was before, burying him completely in Jack's bigger frame. "What are you afraid of?" Jack asked him carefully, gently.

"I'm afraid... I'm scared that you will leave," Kurt admitted, breathing deep and inhaling the sweet scent of the boy around him. "I'm afraid you will leave me just like you left my mother."

"I wouldn't ever leave you Kurt," Jack told him, squeezing his arms around Kurt in a comforting manner, but Kurt only shook his head, drawing himself away from his best friends embrace.

"Did you ever promise my mother that?" Kurt asked, looking at Jack imploringly, and smiling sadly when the boy couldn't meet his eyes. "Then what's to say you won't one day leave me as well?" he asked the Legend softly, shrugging his shoulders dolefully.

"That was different," Jack explained. "She was my best friend-"

"Am I not your best friend now?" Kurt asked him glumly through shaking breaths. "That apparently didn't mean anything now did it?"

"She was my best friend and she was dying!" Jack hissed at him through clenched teeth, before averting his eyes. "She was my only friend and she was  _dying_ , for heavens sake Kurt! I couldn't handle knowing that, and yes, I left, I'm not denying that, but I never stopped watching out for her. I never left her completely. I never  _could_ leave her completely. She was my  _best_ _friend_ ."

Looking into the glassy eyes of the young Legend Kurt walked closer, cupping his friends cheek in his palm and smiling sorrowfully. "So you're saying you might leave  _me_ then, if  _I_ one day get cancer like she did? That doesn't make me any less afraid of what the future might bring me."

"For snow's sake Kurt," Jack grumbled, before catching Kurt's lips with his own, pouring everything he wished to say in just that one kiss.

Kurt on his part was frozen, his brain unable to connect the dots leading to what felt like lips against his own. He couldn't for the life of him understand what was going on, couldn't understand what that tongue searching against his lips was doing, couldn't understand anything.

Yet his hands slowly came to life, sneaking themselves up to tangle around Jack's neck, drawing the other boy closer and molding their lips closer, if only for a moment.

And it was but for a moment, because in the next Jack had pulled back, his eyes wide open and mouth parted, red and kiss-swollen – and shit, all Kurt wanted to do was have those soft pillowy lips back on his own – but then the air before him was empty, thunderous footsteps hurrying away from him and up the stairs.

As he listened to Jack leaving the house Kurt lifted one of his hands, touching his fingertips to his lips and wondering, what the hell just happened?


	8. Chapter 7

Kurt briefly considered staying home from school the following day, not sure whether he would have the energy to deal with Finn on top of being confused about Jack, and why the Legend had left so swiftly after kissing him. In the end he decided to risk it and went anyway, because at least school would provide enough distraction that he  _might_ not think as much about that single kiss.

It didn't really work, which he hadn't really expected anyway, but he did get the chance to talk things out with Finn.

"Hey dude," Finn had begun tentatively when all others had left the choir room when glee ended minutes prior.

"Why hello Finn Hudson," Kurt had replied, none of the usual bravado or flirtiness in his voice as he rolled his eyes at the other teen. What would be the point of that really? "Did you want anything? I don't believe you've called my sheet music f-faggy yet."

"You know I didn't mean it like that," Finn stressed, stepping closer, before stumbling back when Kurt glared at him angrily. Apparently the lumbering giant was still afraid of him even when Kurt wore a wig and heels. Good to know.

"No? What did you mean then?" Kurt sniffed, continuing to collect his things.

"C'mon Kurt, level with me here," Finn begged, waving his arms around empathically. "I'm tryin' to apologize here."

Sighing, Kurt turned to look at the other teen. "I know you are Finn. I guess I should apologize as well, I wasn't all in the rights either."

"No dude, c'mon, you don't-" Finn hurried, but Kurt cut him off.

"Yes I do. I shouldn't have pushed so hard. And I  _guess_ that room was a little... much..." Kurt said, wincing at the thought of the room awaiting him at home, and the massive task of yet again redecorating it back into what it had been.

"That room was... a little weird," Finn admitted, scratching the back of his head apologetically.

Snorting, Kurt huffed out a laugh. "I don't know what possessed me really to go with a Maroccan theme in the first place. You'd be completely washed out by all those bright colors."

"Yeah," Finn agreed, then paused, obviously trying to decipher whether the comment had been an insult or not. "What you said. So, we cool?"

A hand was trust out in his direction, and Kurt gingerly took it, nodding with a small smile on his lips. "We're cool."

"Great," Finn beamed, still shaking Kurt's hand with fervor, though when he noticed he was still holding on to Kurt's hand he dropped it and shuffled around nervously. Baby steps, Kurt thought to himself. "So, I guess I should try to talk to Burt about it too," Finn mumbled, obviously terrified by the prospect. By all rights, Kurt figured, his father could be rather intimidating when it came to his boy.

"Don't worry," Kurt waved the younger teen off, "I'll deal with him. He'll take it better from me, no offense."

"None taken," Finn smiled.

Nodding his head Kurt picked up his satchel from where he had put it on a nearby chair and began walking out of the choir room, only to halt his steps when he came to think of something. "I don't suppose you'd want to try living together again?" Kurt asked the athlete hesitantly. "I'll even let you help with redecorating the room and all."

"I kinda liked it the way it was before, you know?" Finn mumbled, before smiling. "Except for some of those weird furniture-things that I couldn't figure out what they were." Then he took a look at Kurt's face and hurried to add, "Not that there's anything wrong with them or anything! I'm definitely not calling them f- gay or anything, I just don't get what you'd do with those stuff..."

"What pieces were you thinking about?" Kurt asked, in his mind cataloguing the furniture he had kept previously.

"You know..." Finn hesitated, seeming nervous, like he had just stuff it up and say the wrong things. "Like that big silvery thingy in the corner. I never could figure out what that were. Or that... That white  _thing_ that hung from the ceiling! What was up with that?"

"You mean my chair?" Kurt questioned

"That was a chair?" Finn gaped. "That was like a pod or something you'd see in an alien movie. It was totally creepy."

"Noted, no creepy chairs," Kurt grinned, surprised at being able to talk so freely with the jock for once. "Even if it was designer I guess we could get some new chairs. Maybe even a better sofa or something."

"Can we get a TV?" Finn asked excitedly, looking like a three year old who just discovered Christmas.

"We'll see," Kurt laughed.

~*~

Days passed and soon it had been two whole weeks since Kurt last saw Jack that evening in the basement. He still hadn't come to grips about that kiss, and he supposed he wouldn't until he actually  _talked_ with the Legend. Not that Jack was making it easy or anything, hiding away like he was.

He knew the boy had been around, Kurt had noticed how the jocks trying to reach him were often hindered by one force or another. Whether that be ice on the ground or the water in the toilets either being frozen or gone, whether it be somebody screwing up their aim when throwing slushies or something completely natural like teachers wanting to talk to the athletes.

Kurt had also noticed something much more concrete than that, and that it should be far more creepy than he actually found it. Some mornings when waking up he woke to find the door of the basement cracked open, a feat he knew wasn't because of his father, as Burt knew not to enter Kurt's bedroom when he was asleep. Accidentally – or not so accidentally – waking Kurt when checking up on him had lead to Burt learning that it was simply best to leave his son alone lest he wished to walk away with a figurative tail tucked between his legs.

Another thing was the footprints Kurt sometimes found in the snow outside the house, shaped after somebody with bare feet, the toes often standing out exceptionally well against the snow. Kurt was always quick to brush those footprints over when he came across them, as he didn't want his father to think it was a bully or something out to mess with him.

All of it should, technically, be something that sounded creepy, and maybe it was, but Kurt also found it sort of sweet. Sweet that Jack would check up on him as often as he did, despite how he hadn't been talking to Kurt at the moment.

And it was worth mentioning, once again, that the silent treatment was  _definitely_ not something Kurt had initiated. No, that was all Jack.

One bad thing that had resulted from the radio silence Jack's caused with not showing up all hours of the day anymore, was the amount of time Kurt found he had nothing to do. Never in his life had he been someone that had found himself with spare time on his hands – he had always been that kind of person who instead found themselves with a lack of time, too many projects going on at the same time for things to ever grow boring. And this past year, since actually accumulating friends of his own, he had  _definitely_ never had a spare moment to woe away.

That was why he was leisurely strolling through the park one Tuesday afternoon after school had let out. With no homework for a change he had found himself even more bored than usual, and as a result decided that the park was his best answer.

It would be a chance to clear his head at the very least.

He spotted him not long into his walk; sitting by the lake, watching out over the frozen waters, was Jack, alone. And not one to let such an opportunity go Kurt went to him, and sat down by his side.

The Legend gave no sign of noticing him, but Kurt knew he had. He could see it in the way Jack's breathing had evened out ever so slightly, in the way his features had softened. It was good to see that Jack still felt at ease in his company.

They sat there side by side for a long time, just watching out over the landscape before them, not saying a word. It was comfortable anyway, despite the fight from the last time they saw each other hanging in the air around them.

Eventually Kurt shuffled closer, tucking himself up against Jack's chin, where he heaved a relieved sigh and closed his eyes contentedly. He had missed this, missed being so close to somebody that wasn't his father or his girls.

He had missed Jack. Missed how he smelled like the woods, like the sea, that unique scent that was specific to the Legend. Missed how Jack would hold him tight, even without Kurt needing to ask for it. Mostly he had just missed Jack. It had just been two weeks, but it seemed like a lifetime.

"I missed you," Jack whispered against his hair, and despite the sad admission, Kurt smiled.

"Me too. Missed you, that is," Kurt replied. "Never disappear like that again."

"I told you I would never leave you," Jack told him.

"I know. Didn't feel any less horrible though," Kurt said, burrowing himself even closer and relished in being so close to the boy he had finally come around to admit he loved, even if only to himself.

"I'm sorry," Jack apologized.

"I'm sorry too," Kurt admitted softly. "I shouldn't have said those things."

"Yes you should have," Jack argued. "How else was I to know how afraid you were of me leaving?"

"Exactly why I shouldn't have said a thing," Kurt grumbled. "If I hadn't you wouldn't have gone."

"Maybe not then, but I would have left someday," Jack pointed out. "Spring is coming."

"Urgh, don't remind me," Kurt muttered, pushing his cold nose against where Jack's shoulder met his neck. The Guardian didn't seem to mind the cold, and it was good, it meant Kurt could inhale several lungfuls of the other boy's sweet scent without him taking particular notice of it.

"I'm sorry I had to leave you," Jack apologized, then added after a moment, "again."

"Naw, don't apologize," Kurt told him. "It wasn't your fault."

"Still wish I could stay here all summer long," Jack said longingly.

"I won't lie, I'd like that too," Kurt smiled, thinking about a summer spent lazily by the pool – in he shade of course – with the boy holding him.

It was a shame it wouldn't happen.

"I like you, you know?"

And wow, Kurt hadn't meant to blurt it out like that, and Jack was probably gonna-

Laugh? He was laughing. Why was he laughing?

Smacking his palm against Jack's stomach Kurt whined, "Why were you laughing at me? Stop laughing!"

Feeling the other boy press a gentle kiss to his head – and making Kurt smile in the process – Jack leant down to whisper into Kurt's ear. "Wanna know a secret? I kind of like you too."

"Only kind of?" Kurt asked, a big grin on its way to break out on his lips.

"Kind of. Pretty sure. Yes. Definitely," Jack mumbled, his fingertips drawing circles against the top of Kurt's arms.

"And what Brittany told me once – about Toothania being your... girlfriend – that wasn't true was it?" Kurt questioned, staring down at his hands.

Behind him Jack huffed. "She told you that?" he asked, placing a small kiss Kurt's neck, making him shudder from the feather light touch. "I mean, she would probably agree to be if I asked and all, but..."

"Don't be an ass," Kurt breathed, smacking the boy's side lightly.

"Like I was saying," Jack continued undeterred, grinning, " _but_ , she still wouldn't be the one that I want."

Humming, smile so big and bright Kurt wondered if it would get stuck like that, he reluctantly drew back from the Guardian's embrace, but only to the degree where he could turn his head and furtively look up at the other boy. "You like me?" he smiled shyly, his fingers twiddling with the cuffs of his jacket.

"Mm-hmm," Jack hummed, one big hand reaching up to frame Kurt's cheek, a touch Kurt felt himself relax into. "I do."

"And if I were to... ask you to kiss me again..." Kurt began, tongue darting out to wet his lips at the thought at being kissed again, "you wouldn't leave for another two weeks, would you?"

"No," Jack whispered, his thumb playing back and forth over Kurt's flush-heated cheek.

"Then..." Kurt began, bringing his own hands up to rest lightly against the Legends chest. "Then, would you kiss me? Again?"

"Yes," the word was but a breath, but Kurt didn't much care, for Jack was leaning himself closer. All Kurt could see was those pink, beautiful lips, as well as those gorgeous blue eyes of Jack's, and losing himself in want completely Kurt was swift to lean forward those remaining inches, pressing their lips together softly.

It was nothing like Kurt had remembered. Because while that last kiss had been nothing if not surprising and over before Kurt had even understood what was going on, this time it was nothing short of amazing. While nothing more than a gentle touch, it was more than anything Kurt had dared to dream of.

And when they soon dove into another kiss, and then another, and another, each one growing ever more bolder and longer than the last, Kurt felt himself positively swoon at the feeling. It was all indescribable.

And over much too soon, Kurt thought when they finally withdrew their lips from one another. It was okay though, for he knew it wouldn't be the last one they would share, and the smiles they mirrored were bright and happy. Jack was pleasantly flushed – cheeks dusted with a lovely red hue, much likely alike to his own face at the moment – and his mouth was blood red and kiss-swollen.

Kurt did that, the young sophmore realized, ecstatic at the prospect. He had done that.  _Him_ . Kurt Hummel.

Wow.

Not able to contain himself Kurt just had to mold his lips to Jack once more, just because he could.

"I want to take you out," Jack mumbled against his lips, and Kurt smirked, not drawing back one little bit from the boy more or less beneath him.

"Like on a date?" he asked, peppering small kisses from Jack's mouth down to his jaw, down to his neck, rejoicing the whimpers his ministrations were eliciting.

"Yeah," Jack gasped, hands clutching the back of Kurt's head. He was most likely mussing up his hair, but Kurt couldn't give a crap about that at the moment. It sort of felt... nice. Not that he would admit it.

"I'd like that," Kurt smiled, nipping at the skin beneath the other boy's mouth once, twice, and then pulled back, grinning at the way Jack whined at the loss. "Though... where should we go? We can't exactly go to Breadstix or something."

A mischievous glint appeared in Jack's eyes. "Oh, I have got that covered."

~*~

Kurt never imagined he would get the chance to go on a date while still in high school, he had never even prepared for the possibility of it, which was why he had dragged Mercedes with him to the mall the day before. He had been forced to lie about the occasion however, as she didn't even know Jack existed yet, and probably wouldn't react well to the information. Instead he had told her he was planning a number for glee club, and that he didn't have the proper attire for it.

He had been able to tell from the very beginning that she hadn't believed any of it, but as she didn't prodded him for information, he hadn't changed his story. At least she wouldn't get suspicious when Kurt didn't present a new number in glee that following week.

So, with a gorgeous new outfit ready, and his father thinking he would be at the library studying (he had briefly thought about telling him that he was out with Mercedes or Tina, but ultimately decided against it, should his father ask them about it) Kurt was ready for whatever Jack had planned for them.

"I thought one wasn't supposed to end up in the bedroom on the first date," Kurt teased when Jack came in and took his usual position at the head of Kurt's bed, leaning against the headboard with a contented smile. "Or during the beginning of it for that matter."

"You have a surprisingly wicked humor Kurt, you know that?" Jack teased. Grinning, he patted invitingly at the mattress beside him, urging the countertenor to come sit.

Kurt relented, sinking down on the bed, placing a kiss to Jack's cold cheek as he did.

"So, I can't help it, but I'm oddly curious," Kurt said, tangling one of his hands with Jack's, " _where_ exactly are you planning on taking me? Because I'm not sure if you understood that I was joking before, but I'd rather not have our first date to happen in the bedroom. It's horribly unclassy."

"Oh really?" Jack smirked. "And I who thought it would be totally romantic. Oh well."

Smacking the Legend's arm Kurt grinned. "You're incorrigible."

"Actually, I thought I would leave it up to you where we go," Jack said carefully, sliding a hand into his pocket and pulling out a small ball.

"What's that?" Kurt asked, letting Jack drop the marble into his palm. It was a beautiful blue hue, with tiny green vines woven through it.

"It's what I – well,  _we_ – use to travel around the world quickly," Jack explained. "If you throw it at the wall or the floor, anything really, it will create a portal to where you want to go. Most of these orbs only take you to one specific place, but with this one we can go pretty much anywhere."

"So what?" Kurt wondered. "You were planning on taking me to Paris or Rome or something?"

"Actually," Jack smiled. "I was thinking something a little more exclusive than that. How do you feel about a visit to  _my_ world?"

"You mean like," Kurt began, a little bit jokingly, a smile tugging at his lips, "That you're gonna show me  _your_ bedroom instead?"

"Ha ha, you're hilarious," Jack drawled, though the huge smile on his face betrayed him. "But no, not exactly. I know it's just about Easter, but I don't think 'ole Bun-Bun would appreciate me visiting this time of year. But, maybe you would like to visit the North Pole?"

"Like..." Kurt dragged out, pulling back to look up at the Legend.

"Like, maybe chat a bit with the ol' Claus, take a little look at the workshop..." Jack explained, a faint pink hue settling over the top bits of his cheeks. "I know it's not the most traditional of first dates, but, I thought-"

"Actually," Kurt smiled, squeezing Jack's hand, "I think that sounds kind of perfect."

"Really?" the Legend asked disbelievingly.

"Yeah," Kurt nodded. "I just want to spend some time with you, so nothing you plan for us could go wrong as long as we do it together. Besides, even though I might not be able to tell everybody, I'll know I  _definitely_ had the most magical of dates, ever."

"...That is so cheesy," Jack grinned at him.

"Oh, shut up," Kurt smiled in return.

~*~

Not wanting his father to suspect anything, Kurt drove the Navigator the few blocks down to the library before allowing Jack to take him  _anywhere_ . Jack had certainly enjoyed the short car ride, hooting and laughing excitedly as Kurt drove. He hadn't even gone particularly fast.

"Was this seriously the first time you've ever been in a car?" Kurt had to ask him when they had stopped.

"Was it that obvious?" Jack wondered, walking over to Kurt's side of the car.

"Honestly? Yeah, a little bit," Kurt said, patting the other boy's arm. "But you were very cute."

"Of course I'm cute. I'm always cute," Jack scoffed, making Kurt roll his eyes. "So, ready for this?"

"Bring it on," Kurt said gamely, waiting expectantly.

The portal before him wasn't really what Kurt had imagined. Unlike most things he had seen in movies regarding this sort of thing – which, admittedly, wasn't a lot, it wasn't really his kind of movies – this 'doorway' mostly just looked like a blurry spiral. He couldn't see anything even  _close_ to resembling Santa Claus workshop, could see nothing but swirls of blue, white and grey.

"Are you sure this thing will work?" Kurt asked the other boy, hesitantly stepping closer to the bright portal at Jack's urging.

"If it doesn't I'll have to had a serious talk with the yetis," Jack said cheerfully. "But don't worry. It will."

"There's yetis?" Kurt asked distractedly.

"Totally," Jack nodded. "They build all the toys for North."

"What about the elves?" Kurt wondered. He had always believed that was what the elves did, that it was  _their_ task.

"North doesn't really trust them," Jack explained matter-of-factly. "You'll see why soon enough. Now come on," he grinned, taking Kurt's hand, "before the portal closes."

Not even given a chance to take a breath, Kurt found himself being pulled through the big, colorful portal. For a moment he felt weightless, like he was flying, before there was suddenly solid ground beneath his feet again, and he found himself staring up at a positively massive house.

He couldn't believe he was looking at Santa Claus' workshop.

"This is incredible," he told Jack, eyes unblinking as he tried to take it all in.

"It's even better on the inside," Jack swore, beginning to drag him to the door. "Come on, I'll introduce you to North."

"You'll introduce who to me, you say?" a booming voice sounded behind them.

When Kurt turned around he suddenly found himself needing to crane his neck impossibly far back; the man before him was even taller than Finn. Standing at almost seven feet tall, Kurt felt indescribably small with his own five foot eleven in comparison to who he guessed could only be North. At least if the long, grayish beard was anything to go on, as well as the huge red cloak.

"I see you brought a friend Jackie," the man said teasingly, his voice sporting an incredibly thick Russian accent. As Kurt watched the man peeled off a glove and reached his hand out to Kurt, who took it hesitantly. "I'm Nicholaus North," the man introduced himself.

"Kurt Hummel," he said, slightly awestruck. He was holding the hand of one of the most famous men on Earth. How could this possibly be his life?

"I know. Son of Burt Hummel and Elisabeth Finley, grandson of..." North trailed off, "but I guess you know all that better than me anyway. So, Jackie, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Actually," Jack began, shuffling his feet, "I was gonna show Kurt the workshop. I was thinking I might introduce him to Phil."

"Oh Jackie, Jackie, Jackie," North sighed, shaking his head. "I thought we told you you couldn't do that anymore. Not after you brought that girl over a few years back."

"Girl?" Kurt questioned, feeling unexpectedly jealous by the prospect. He wondered if maybe it had been that Tooth Fairy, Toothania whatever, that he had brought. Maybe it had even been a date... "What girl?"

"It was just Brittany," Jack told him, smirking at the jealous look on his face. Turning back to Claus he continued, "and you know that wasn't my fault. It was Baby Tooth who dropped the portal – how was I supposed to know she was just gonna go right up to it and jump through?"

"Hmph," North grumbled, crossing his arms.

"If it's a problem, I can just go," Kurt offered, not liking the idea of the two Legends fighting over him. "We can have our date somewhere else, Jack, it's no big deal."

"Wait, wait," North exclaimed, looking shocked. "You're on a date? Like... you're dating? My, my, Jack, looked like I was right after all!"

"Urrgh," Kurt could hear Jack mutter over Claus' laughter, and watched him drag a hand over his face. "I can't believe this is happening. Maybe you are right Kurt, we should just go."

"No, no!" North shouted, grasping them both over the shoulders, starting to lead them inside. "Don't be ridiculous now Jackie! Come on, let's find Phil! I'd give you a tour myself, but I have to head over to Bunny's. You know what he gets like this close to Easter."

"Who's Phil?" Kurt wondered, North's arm heavy over his shoulders.

"He is one of the yetis," Jack explained. "Can't tell you how many times he threw me out of this place before North gave me permission to come and go as I please."

"I only did that so you wouldn't try to sneak in anymore," North chortled. "It worked too."

"It's not fun if you have permission!" Jack whined pitifully, and Kurt reached across North's wide chest to pat at his arm.

"There, there," he soothed, only mocking the boy a little bit.

"You're both mean," Jack pouted, something the other two simply shrugged at.

~*~

The date went swimmingly. Phil turned out to be really nice, despite Kurt not being able to understand a word he was saying. Much like the situation with Baby Tooth, the big hairy creature didn't really speak with actual  _words_ , more like these deep, guttural noises that Kurt didn't get much of. Or anything really.

Jack had a swell time acting as translator, happy with being the center of attention.

Kurt was shown everything that was worth seeing around the workshop; the reindeers (which didn't really look at all like their relatives in the wild, or even those in cartoons), the big sleigh (that was even more massive than Kurt had thought it would be) and finally, the workshop.

Jack had been right about it being the yetis that do all the work. In the gigantic room Kurt could see dozens of them working diligently by their stations, building and painting things in swift procession. He could tell why the elves weren't trusted with the task as well, as there were two of them not far from him and his little group, knocking each other atop the head with two finished dolls, making their little belled hats jingle noisily. The fact that the dolls were also assembled a bit oddly – with an arm sticking out where the head should be, and the head sticking out from under the skirt – said a bit of their level of skill.

Phil explained a lot about the process they went through making the toys, which Kurt listened to attentively. Or, at least mostly. It was those moments when Jack chose to whisper his translations straight into Kurt's ear that he had trouble concentrating.

The yeti even offered him to try his hand at painting one of the toys, a little toy soldier, to which Kurt happily agreed. Jack was also given a toy, though more hesitantly, as if they were worried he would just ruin it somehow. Kurt could see their concern, as the Legend threw the brush away not ten minutes in, grumbling about how horrible he was at painting, not caring how the brush landed messily atop one of the other yetis' furry head.

At least Jack sat patiently beside Kurt after that, affectionately praising him as he finished up with his little soldier. Kurt even smiled into the kiss Jack gave him when he had returned Phil the finished product, and he didn't even mind it when Jack grabbed his clean hands with his own that were covered in paint splotches.

Getting the paint residue off his hands afterwards wasn't quite as much fun, but one of the yetis brought him a special little soap, and it made it way easier than it ever would have been back home. He might have to look into getting some back home for the next time his father asked him to do paintwork in the garage. Those times always left him filthy for days if he weren't careful.

They finished the night at the North Pole by sitting side by side by the fire in North's 'living room', a soft, thick rug underneath them. Phil had even brought them two cups of warm cocoa, the taste of which was amazing on Kurt's tongue. He would have to locate the yeti to give him the recipe sometime.

They didn't say much. They didn't need to, as it was enough to just be in each other's company, and it truly was magical.

~*~

"Like I said," Kurt beamed as they came back to his house later that night, "the most magical date ever. And you just thought I was being cheesy."

"I know, I know," Jack smiled, leaning back against the Navigator as he waited for Kurt to dig out his book bag. He couldn't exactly forget about it now, could he? His dad would definitely ask questions. "It was way better than what I had thought it would be."

"You were planning on taking me on a sub-par date?" Kurt asked, teasing. "Tsk, tsk, Jack, and here I thought you were a romantic."

"Hey!" Jack laughed. "Weren't you the one who said earlier that you just wanted to spend time with me, and that nothing could be bad if we did it together?"

"I was clearly delusional," Kurt sniffed, hiking the book bag onto his shoulder with a grin.

"Oh, I see how it is," Jack grinned, "you're dumping me for Phil, right? He was always the romantic of the two of us."

"Oh yeah," Kurt drawled, imagining the yeti he had met earlier before him. "He is just the perfect boyfriend isn't he? Such long, gorgeous hair. So tall..."

"Is that what I am?" Jack asked him.

"Hmm? What?" Kurt must have missed something.

"Your boyfriend," Jack said, stepping closer. "Is that what I am."

Swallowing, Kurt nodded. "If you want to."

"I really do," Jack whispered, crowding Kurt back against the car, and leant down to catch Kurt's lips in a soft kiss. Pressing into it, Kurt felt like he was floating on air, the touch to his lips heavenly.

"Good," he whispered back when Jack stepped away, his legs weak like jelly.

"Good," Jack agreed. The Legend looked down on him for a moment, before offering Kurt his arm. "We should maybe get you inside now. Don't want your father to worry."

"Yeah," Kurt agreed, looping his arm with the Guardian's.

Hesitating when they reached the front porch, Kurt turned back to the other boy, biting his lower lip. He really wanted that kiss on the front porch thing that they always showed in movies, but he was unsure about how to ask for it.

Luckily, Jack didn't seem quite as troubled about it, as the Legend simply leant in and planted another kiss right on his mouth, causing Kurt to gasp quietly into the air.

"I should let you go inside," Jack whispered against his lips, Kurt's mind a little bit hazy where he was still reeling from the kisses.

"Mmm," he hummed stupidly. "Yeah."

Jack only chuckled before him, his eyes full of mirth as he looked at Kurt. "Speechless huh?"

Shaking himself out of his stupor, Kurt rolled his eyes. "Don't be an ass," he told the taller boy quietly, pecking him softly on the cheek. "It doesn't suit you."

"It doesn't?" Jack questioned, pulling Kurt close once more.

"No," Kurt whispered, tilting his head up and allowing Jack to place yet another kiss on him. "I really should get inside now," he muttered, hearing his father move around on the other side of the door.

"Yeah," Jack breathed, reluctantly letting go of him. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Bright and early," Kurt promised. Turning around he opened the door, and with one final little wave to the Legend, he stepped inside, the door falling shut behind him as he leant against it. Squealing internally, Kurt allowed the most grand of all smiled break out on his face.

"Everything go fine at the library?" Burt asked him loudly from the direction of the kitchen, making Kurt startle. He had managed to forget he wasn't alone.

"Yeah," Kurt told him, peeling himself away from the door. "Everything went perfectly."

~*~

Neither of the two noticed that on the other side of the road, lurking in the shadows, a tall, dark figure was watching them. The sinister smile spreading across his dull grey lips when he saw the two kiss not just once, but three times, would have sent chills down anyone's spine.

Pitch now knew how to move forward with his plan. All thanks to one Kurt Hummel.


	9. Chapter 8

It was the latest of his nightmares that made Kurt decide to finally come clean about them to Jack. When he had woken up that morning, with threats about the death of not only his life, but of his boyfriend's as well ringing through his mind, he had realized there really was no choice left but to tell somebody. Things were turning dangerous much too fast for Kurt to be able too keep silent about it for much longer.

And thus, clutching the steering wheel in his hands tightly, Kurt glanced over at the Guardian in the passenger seat quickly, licking nervously over his lips as he fought for words.

"Jack?" he questioned quietly, turning the car around a corner where he was driving towards the school. "I have to tell you something."

"Hmm," the Legend hummed distractedly, leaning his head out the car window to feel the wind against his face. "What?"

"I- can you come back inside, please?" Kurt wondered, not wishing to say what he had to say to the other boy's backside.

"Yeah, sure," Jack told him happily, leaning back against the seat as Kurt closed the window again. "What's up?"

"I-" Kurt began, stopping unsure of how to phrase what was on his mind.

"Just say it, Kurt," Jack encouraged him, watching him with a worried frown.

"Promise you won't get mad at me," Kurt begged the other boy quietly, worried how the Legend might react to learning Kurt had been 'lying' for months.

"...I promise," Jack answered eventually, hesitant about what Kurt would say. "Just say what it is, I won’t get mad, I promise."

"...I've been having nightmares," Kurt admitted, glancing nervously at the pale teen in the passenger seat. He could see that Jack was surprised, though not outright angry. A bit weary, perhaps.

"What kinds of nightmares?" he asked ultimately, squirming around to get a better look at Kurt.

Hesitating, Kurt changed his grip on the steering wheel. "The same ones I've been having for years..." he began, slowing the car down as they came to a red light, only to blurt out, "only Pitch is now in them!" Wincing at his words, Kurt gazed out the window beside him, not wanting to look at Jack.

It took the older boy a while to answer. Kurt not only managed to begin driving again, but he also successfully drove the last few blocks remaining to his destination. Only when the school ground was actually in plain sight did the Legend actually say anything at all.

"Why didn't you say anything before?" Jack questioned lowly, though Kurt couldn't tell if the boy was angry or not.

Feeling a bit guilty, Kurt shrugged. "I didn't want to worry anyone," he said, deciding to go with the truth.

"But I already  _was_ worried," Jack explained, looking at him as Kurt parked the car. "This haven't changed that."

"So you aren't...  _more_ worried now?" Kurt wondered, looking down at his hands.

"Oh, of course I'm more worried  _now_ ," Jack exclaimed, his voice hushed. "Pitch has been terrorizing your dreams for  _months_ , and who knows what else he  _could_ have done!"

"It wasn't really that bad..." Kurt said meekly, trying to explain. "Not until..."

"Until what?" Jack quired when Kurt fell silent. "Until  _what_ , Kurt?"

"Until tonight," Kurt admitted. Looking into the eyes of his boyfriend he continued, "he said he was gonna kill all the other Legends soon. He said he was gonna kill  _you_ . He said... he said he was gonna kill me too if I got in the way."

"...Shit!" Jack cried, banging his fist against the dashboard, making Kurt flinch and jump.

"Are you angry with me?" Kurt asked the other boy, twiddling his thumbs anxiously.

"No," Jack was quick to explain. Grabbing Kurt's hands in his own he got the younger boy to look into his eyes. "I'm not mad at you at all. A bit sad that you hadn't told me all this sooner, yes, but not angry at all. Not at you anyway. Him however... Fuck Kurt, he threatened to  _kill_ you!"

"Which is why I told you," Kurt nodded, smiling faintly. "You won't do anything stupid, will you?"

"While I would love to just beat the crap out of him," Jack began, smiling ruefully, "I don't know where he is, or how to find him." Kurt watched as the other boy sighed, raking a hand through his hair. "I think I should go talk to North about this. Get the other's together for an emergency meeting or something."

"That sounds like a good idea," Kurt smiled softly, squeezing the Legend's hand. "And don't worry about me. I will be just fine. I promise."

"I know you will," Jack grinned, leaning forward to kiss Kurt's lips quickly. "I'll be there when you get home after school, okay? Just gotta take care of this first."

"Sounds good," Kurt smiled. "Say hi to North for me, will you?"

"I will," Jack promised, pressing another swift kiss to Kurt's lips.

"See you later," Kurt told the Guardian as they both stepped out of the car. He was given a quick smile in return, and then he watched the other boy leave quickly.

Turning back to the school, Kurt realized he couldn't  _wait_ until school ended.

He was already worried something would happen to the Legend.

He prayed he was wrong.

~*~

"It's unusual for Pitch to target a specific person like this Tooth," Jack muttered, landing carefully in the Hummel backyard. The emergency meeting with the other Guardians had just ended, making Jack rush to get to the house in order to not be late. Kurt was set to be home any minute now, and he had promised he would be here when his boyfriend came home from school.

The small fairy resting in the hood of his sweater spoke quietly, the sound high and melodic.

"Well yeah Tooth, he is the one that gives all people nightmares, you know that..." Jack spoke, walking into the house and heading straight for the basement. "Why are you asking?"

Again Baby Tooth talked, asking him another question.

"Ah," he sighed, understanding. "Well, no. Not everybody can see him in their dreams. You have to believe in him, like I guess Kurt does now. He can't show himself to anyone else... well he  _can_ , but they won't see him."

Listening as she asked another question Jack sat down on Kurt's soft bed, letting his feet dangle over the side of it.

"North explained it to me, that is how I know." Another short question. "No, I don't think he made it up. You don't think it makes sense?"

As he continued explaining things to the small fairy he noticed nothing of the darkness seeping out from under the bed; saw nothing of the thick, black vines of sand ringling their way forward, or how they curled themselves around his bare ankles.

It wasn't until he felt the sharp yank to them that he noticed anything at all, but by then it was too late, and he was dragged beneath the bed as he screamed, little Baby Tooth escaping from his hood and hiding away under the many pillows on Kurt's bed.

This  _really_ wasn't how he had expected to find the way to Pitch's lair...

~*~

Kurt froze the moment he closed the basement door behind him as a strange feeling settled over him. It felt... strange, like something was not right; like the room before him should be cast in darkness, a gentle breeze fluttering inside and making long, torn curtains catch in the wind... He expects his bedding to be shredded to bits with feathers from his pillows still sinking slowly to the ground. He expects his possessions to be strewn hazardously on the floor. He expects to be met with something horrible once he dares to look.

He was dramatic, he knew that, and had probably watched far too many movies, but the feeling was there. There was no denying that.

When he eyes the small bits and pieces he could see the room looked just the same as always. Of course it did. But still...

It felt  _wrong_ .

Those first few tentative steps down the stairs were slow, glacial, his heart hammering like crazy inside his chest as his eyes danced across the familiar space.

Soon Kurt found himself standing in the middle of the room, just contemplating whether he was going mad or not.  _Nothing_ was wrong with his room, and yet...

Where was Jack? Jack was supposed to be here, had told Kurt that they would meet here when school ended. Of course, Jack might simply be held back, late – but Kurt had a feeling he was... not.

What seemed like a quiet whimper sounded from behind him, and Kurt pivoted around, heart thudding precariously as he thought about the sheer number of things that could await him. Yet he found nothing, his bedroom was as empty as could be.

It was probably only a hallucination, he thought unsteadily, eyes wide as he looked for something, anything.

Sinking down onto the bed Kurt sighed deeply; inhaling and exhaling a number of times to just  _calm down already_ . His hands were twitching where they were resting in his lap. Though not finding a single thing out of order or wrong, Kurt couldn't help but think that things were not alright. Things were not fine in the slightest.

Dragging his fingers through his hair – effectively mussing it up, but he deserved the faint relaxation the movement brought – he leant back onto the bedding. Laying down on the bed he rested one arm across his eyes, allowing the darkness to seep in and help him breathe easier.

Things were okay. Of course they were. Of course they were...

The sound from before startled him when it rang out once more – only this time it was much louder, much nearer. With huge eyes Kurt scrambled up into a kneeling position, staring at the collection of pillows resting against his headboard, the collection of pillows  _he had just been leaning on_ !

Kurt could swear that was where the sound came from, could swear that there was something hiding amongst his pieces of bedding. The question was just  _what_ was hiding there...

Reaching over to his nightstand he grasped the first thing he could find, which turned out to be one of his English homework books. Holding it steadily in his hand he debated whether or not to actually check what was hiding in his bed himself, or if he should just wait for someone else to come home.

Jack should be here any minute after all... Hopefully, anyway.

Though that would be pathetic, wouldn't it? To await one's boyfriend to let them find the 'big bad monster' hiding in their bed? Sure, Jack would play along and check Kurt's bed if he asked the Legend to, but Jack would surely tease him about it for months as well when it turned out to be nothing.

It was probably only Kurt's overactive imagination anyway making him come up with this, especially after the 'dramatic' morning in the car.

So, squaring his shoulders Kurt gripped the book tighter and shuffled himself forward on the mattress. There wouldn't be anything hiding beneath his pillows, Kurt told himself as he began to slowly shift aside one pillow at a time, not finding a single thing that could be translated as any sort of danger.

In fact, he couldn't find a single thing at all. Or, at least he couldn't until he lifted the third to last pillow, and even then it was the last thing he had expected to find hiding behind it.

"Tooth?" Kurt questioned the shaking little fairy before him.

The tiny little creature only huddled in closer on herself, her body shuddering even more furiously than before, before she seemed to recognize his voice and lifted her head up from her knees. Kurt could see tears leaking from her shining eyes, streaking her face with wetness.

He caught her when she flung herself at him, and hugging her to his neck he could hear her begin to blabber in that high-pitched voice of hers. And, as usual, Kurt couldn't understand a word of it.

"Please Baby Tooth," Kurt babbled, tears of his own forming in the corner of his eyes. "What happened, I can't understand you. What are you saying?"

More unrecognizable noises fell out of her mouth, her arms flinging out to her sides as she spoke. Yet Kurt comprehended nothing.

"I don't understand!" Kurt cried, frustration seeping into his voice, and he lifted the small fairy away from his neck to look at her. "What's wrong? Is it Jack? Is Jack hurt? What? What, Tooth, what are you saying?!"

The slap to his face is unexpected. It did serve its purpose, as he shut up because of it, his wide eyes watching the fairy as she flew up into the air. Hovering inches before his nose, she points her small finger at him angrily. She was spewing out incomprehensible noise at an even faster rate than normal, her face turning red as she turned angrier and angrier.

Then something happened, something Kurt had not counted on to happen.

He  _understood_ her.

"-it together Kurt!" she screamed at him, her voice going higher the more furious she became. "Jack needs us for teeth's sake! We need to do something to help him, and that won't happen if you are too much of a- of a- of a  _mule_ to be of any help! Pitch has him, and we have to-"

"Pitch has him?" Kurt interrupted her, his eyes turning cold, a mixture of rage and fear clouding them.

Baby Tooth fell silent, her mouth wide open mid-word, and her eyes widened from the slits they had been scrunched into, back into the huge orbs Kurt had gotten used to seeing. She looked stunned.

"You- you understand me?" she whispered, wings fluttering behind her.

Kurt nodded, twice. "Yes. Yeah."

"You've never understood me before," she said disbelievingly, her feet kicking hopefully beneath her, growing in excitement with every passing second.

"I know," Kurt grinned, the sudden surprise cutting through his worry for a moment, but after a few seconds of cheering at the new development, he remembered what was important then and there. Jack. "You said Pitch has Jack?" he asked the exhilarated fairy – who had been doing aerial back-flips since the realization set in – who sobered up at the reminder, and sat down in his offered hand.

"He came out of nowhere, grabbing Jack and disappearing under the bed. I hid the moment I heard him," Tooth explained, motioning to the pillows behind her. Waving Kurt closer, she looked around herself, as if checking nobody could hear her, "Pitch took me once, the first time he tried to take over, and I kind of... formed a slight..." she hesitated, searching for the right word.

"Fear?" Kurt suggested.

"I'm scared shitless of him," she put bluntly. "When he is around, I just lose all control, and hide like a freaked- well, I wouldn't say rabbit, Bunny might misunderstand but... you get the point."

"You're saying Pitch took Jack under the bed?" Kurt asked dubiously, glancing towards the edge of the bedding. "That doesn't make sense."

Baby Tooth rolled her eyes. "You've never thought about  _why_ children always ask their parents to look under the bed for monsters? Where do  _you_ think the Boogieman shows up from?"

Kurt made a low noise, relenting to her point. "I guess..."

"Pitch has a direct link from his lair to all beds where there is a human believing in him. He hasn't had anybody believing in him for a long time..." She gave him a look. "But since  _you_ believe in him now..."

"...He has a way to get in here unseen," Kurt finished, shuddering at the possibilities. Who knew how many times Pitch had watched him in his sleep, how many opportunities there had been for the wicked Legend to hurt him – and not only strike him with one of his nightmares, but  _actually_ hurt him.

"Exactly," Baby Tooth agreed.

"We have to help him," Kurt stressed, standing up from the bed and striding across the room, thinking. Looking back at the bed an idea came to him. It was crazy, and likely to end in catastrophe, but it was the one solution there was. "We have to go to Pitch."

"You mean... through there?" Baby Tooth asked, eyes blown, pointing beneath the bed from where she flew next to his ear. "I can't go down there," she panicked, backing up. "Pitch will take me! I can't Kurt, I can't! Don't make me, please don't make me, I can't. I-"

"Tooth- Tooth, stop!" Kurt said, gathering her attention. "You don't have to. I won't make you."

"You won't?" she sounded so meek. "But- shouldn't I-?"

"Not if just the thought makes you panic this much," Kurt guaranteed her, allowing a soothing smile to grace his lips. Turning back to the room he let his eyes travel around, searching for other options. They stop on a small box standing in the bookshelf, and an idea sprung to mind. "You're gonna get help," he told Baby Tooth as he hurried to the shelf.

Picking the box down Kurt displays it's content to the curious fairy. Inside, resting on a piece of soft fabric, was a marble Jack had given him not two weeks earlier, the day after their date. The Legend had given it to him with a soft smile, telling Kurt that it led to North's workshop, and that he should only use it if there was an emergency. That Kurt would find help there.

"Is that..." Baby Tooth began, before looking up at him suspiciously. "Why do  _you_ had one of those?"

"Jack gave it to me," Kurt told her, picking the small marble out, and held it in his cupped palm. "For emergencies. And I'm willing to bet this counts as one."

"And what do you plan we do with it?" Baby Tooth asked him, running her tiny hands over the orb that was just about half her size.

Maybe this hadn't been such a good idea as Kurt first thought it to be.

"Well..." Kurt hesitated, sizing the fairy up uncertainly. "If you're up for it, I figured you could fly this to Brittany. The two of you could get help. You know how to use one of these I suppose."

"Of course I do," Baby Tooth responded indignantly, quick to curl her body around the marble and haul it up. She almost buckled from the weight, but she caught herself, grunting.

"Are you sure you can do this?" Kurt asked her worriedly. If she broke it...

"Yeah," she huffed. "Just... Can you open the door?"

"Sure," Kurt said, hurrying up the stairs, and opened not only the basement door, but the front door as well.

For a minute his eyes follow her where she flew – or attempted to anyway, she wasn't exactly following the  _straightest_ of paths at the moment – but then he turned back inside.

His legs were heavy as he walked down the stairs, his arms feeling like lead as he went through the motion of moving his bed out of the way. And when it came to it, to actually seeing what precisely it was awaiting him, Kurt heaved a huge breath, his eyelids sluggish as he opened his eyes.

There was a hole in his floor. There was a  _hole_ in his floor. And not a small one either, it was easily three feet across where it was at its widest. If Pitch had had this hole set up here since December, Kurt had no idea how he had managed to miss it for so long.

He certainly hadn't seen it either of the times he was decorating the room when Finn first moved in, so Kurt suspected Pitch had left it there now on purpose. Like he wanted Kurt to follow him.

Like it was all a trap.

The thought worried him. If it was all a trap, then what chance would Kurt ever have of saving Jack from Pitch's clutches? But then again, even if it was a trap, would it matter?  _Did_ it matter?

No. Kurt knew he had to risk it. Knew he had to try. Jack was worth it.

Steeling himself, Kurt slowly slid closer to the hole, peering down into it; he couldn't see an ending, not that he had expected to find one really.

Sitting down Kurt swung his legs over the edge, grimacing at the feel of earth against his fingertips, and with a final deep breath, he scooted himself down into the hole.

He fell for what felt like an eternity, and was reminded by how Alice fell down the rabbit hole, wishing he could felt the same kind of excitement as she had in the story. Instead he only felt dread, worrying about what he would find.

~*~

"You're boyfriend is on his way now," Pitch smirked, watching through the bars of the cage where the pale Guardian was slumped.

"I don't believe you," Jack muttered weakly, trying and failing yet again to get up on his knees. He had grown ever weaker with every passing second he had remained trapped in this dark contraption, and he wondered what it was doing to his body.

"Oh trust me, you don't have to," Pitch sneered, turning away, stepping closer to the shadows. "By the time he comes here, you will already be unconscious."

Jack feared he might be right about that, and closed his eyes.

~*~

The room Kurt stepped out into was gigantic; easily the biggest place he had ever seen, and it was all in shades of black. There were huge pillars reaching up towards the ceiling, and when Kurt craned his neck upwards, straining his eyes to see, he could make out a multitude of stalactites reaching for the ground.

The first step in was the hardest to take, the feeling of walking towards his doom looming over him, but he did, and the sharp clang of his footstep echoed around the hall. Deeper and deeper he walked into the dark cave, eyes slowly adjusting to the darkness around him.

He could see small torches hanging from some of the pillars, the firelight casting the imminent space around it in faint lights, but none of them were close enough to do much to help him.

No, Kurt was very much stuck in the dark.

Eventually the hall seemed to change; the pillars turned fewer and far between, and instead gigantic cages reached up towards the ceiling. The first ones were empty, and the shell of the cages were a dusty black, but when he came across one with something in it, he could see how the cage had seemed to come to life, sparkling and glittering.

Inside that first shimmering gate lay a small man, the green jacket he was wearing dull and sulky with filth. A wilted clover rested on his lapel, and Kurt had a strong suspicion that this was the leprechaun Jack once had mentioned disappeared weeks ago.

In the second cage there lay a thin, long figure. A slim, dark suit stretched across the slight frame, and a scull peaked out from the neck of the shirt.

In the third lay a heard of mice, all white with little hats and pouches at their sides. In the fourth a groundhog on his side. In the fifth a woman in a thick woolen coat slumped over herself.

And then, despite many other cages lying between him and the one that caught his eye, Kurt ran to where he saw Jack slumped together lifeless on the bottom. He looked absolutely horrible, with skin paler than Kurt had ever seen, his hair tangled and messy and parts of his clothes in shreds. The staff Jack always carried with him was nowhere in sight.

What did Pitch  _do_ to him?

Mindless of what might happen Kurt reached for the bars of the cage, and gripped them tight in his hands as he watched his boyfriend. He dropped the bars seconds after though, when he felt his energy slipping out of his body from his fingers. Staring disbelievingly at the glittering bars Kurt walked around the cage, trying to see if there was a weak spot anywhere.

He found nothing.

"Come here to rescue the fair maiden from the monstrous dragon keeping him victim, have you?" a scorning voice gloated behind him, and the sound immediately sent shivers running down his spine. Closing his eyes Kurt took a deep breath, his arms falling listlessly to his sides as he listened on to the familiar stranger's words. "Why do you even bother? You, a mere  _human_ , thinking you can outwit me? You think you can rescue him, do you?" With each small word the voice closed in on him, and soon the man was right up against his back, the dark fabric of his cloth brushing up against Kurt's bare arms as he tickled his fingers against Kurt's trembling throat.

Being grabbed Kurt was turned around, the man's sickening breath falling onto his face with every small exhale. He almost gagged at the smell of death hitting him; of decay, of earth, of corpse.

"You don't even dare lay your innocent eyes on me, do you boy?" the man asked him, amused it seemed. "Not brave enough to watch the man that will kill not only your lover, but yourself as well." Kurt twitched in his hold, eyes shut tight as ever, knowing that  _those eyes_ would look at him if he dared opening them _._ "Yes, little one. I will kill you," the man continued, gloating in his power. "You are nothing to me, and it will have your darling little boyfriend over there on his knees when I do. And if nothing else, your tortured screams certainly will entertain me..."

With that the man pulls away, Kurt giving out a relieved breath when his foul odor gradually vanishes.

Then he foolishly opened his eyes.

The man was as if brought straight from his darkest fears. Certainly from his nightmares. If he had ever imagined there to be a grim reaper, or something fairly akin to one, this was what his mind would unavoidably conjure up.

Kurt used to pride himself in his pearly white skin. Even while sick and it turned glum and almost see-trough, he would pride himself in it. Even when he had at his sickest and it became a light gray-ish color he would pride himself on his skin. Never again would he be able to see himself that way again. After this encounter, every time he falls ill he will have to remember this man and his hauntingly stark gray appearance. Every time he is struck with some sickness Kurt will be attacked with frightening images of that deathly and dull gray tint of skin, and how it frames the most horrifying ghost of a man he had ever witnessed.

This man – Pitch, Kurt's certain of that, nobody else would ever bear a greater resemblance to what Jack had told him of the flagitious Legend, and to what he had experienced himself in his dreams – was one with the shadows he appeared to thrive to hide amongst. Not only was his skin something Kurt could imagine belonging to a corpse well on it was way rotting in the ground, but his face was the most ghastly he had ever come across. Dark rings marks the thin, yellow slits of his eyes that Kurt had grown so accustomed to, which, though expressive, never seemed to leave out one certain emotion – plain and simple hatred. His mouth was pursed, a permanent sneer fixed on those lips.

The worst thing though was the way the black-clothed man seemed to be just  _itching_ to eliminate all those who dare oppose him – Kurt most certainly included in that category.

"Why, Kurt," Pitch smiled, yellow eyes boring into his own. "You opened your eyes. Those pretty, blue eyes. I'm impressed. Such a shame it won't stop me from killing you, and that pathetic lover of yours."

"Jack is not pathetic," Kurt protested meekly, his body tight with the urge to flee. There was nowhere to run though; all around him dark creatures loomed in the shadows. When Kurt dared catch a glimpse of them, he found himself eye to eye with the most twisted horses he had ever seen; skinny, jet black things as if spun from the same powder that extrudes from under the man before him.

It didn't surprise him that these beasts were Pitch's creations; they certainly contain a certain nightmarish quality.

Backing up when Pitch stepped closer Kurt felt himself trapped against a wall – most likely one of the pillars – and knew there were nowhere to run or hide.

"Your Jack," Pitch sneered, "is a pathetic coward, who hides behind the children he claims to love. Did he tell you that? That it was the children that he let fight the battle against me last time? That he armed them with nothing but snowballs and  _fun_ , and asked them to defeat me?"

Kurt stared at him in disbelief. Yes, Jack had indeed told him about that fight almost a decade earlier, but his rendition had been one where the children and the Guardians had faught together. On equal ground. Kurt haven't had no reason to not believe Jack this far, why shouldn't he about this? Why should he ever listen to this scum over the words of his boyfriend?

"I bet he did tell you how they did it all together, right?" Pitch grimaced, stepping so close he had up in Kurt's face, his breath hitting Kurt's face, making him wince. "It was a  _lie_ Kurt. They weren't strong or brave enough to beat me, and they sent the children to do it in their stead."

"I don't believe you," Kurt said, unwittingly mirroring his boyfriend's words from earlier.

And just like Pitch had answered dear old Jack back then, the same thing he told Kurt now. "You don't have to believe me. Just know that  _you_ ... will fail, and Jack over there," he said turning his face towards the pale Guardian's cage, "Will lose all of his powers. And then... then he will die. And there is absolutely  _nothing_ you or any of your friends can do about it."


	10. Chapter 9

"- _He will die. And there is absolutely_ nothing _you or any of your friends can do about it._ "

The words rang through Kurt's body, encompassed him from the inside out, but where deep fear and anxiety should be, there is only frustration and determination. Nothing they could do? There is  _always_ something one could do to fight the bad in this world. Who was Pitch to make him believe any different?

Pitch was nothing but another bully, Kurt realized, nothing but a sad little man taking out his anger on those smaller than him. He was no better than Azimio, Karofsky and the other bullies back at school, he had just set his sights higher than bullying his lesser classmates.

The revelation left him strong, a defiant fire lightning in the pit of his stomach, and he pushed the cloaked man back, making him stumble and almost trip over his own feet.

"There is  _always_ something to do, you piece of shit!" Kurt cried, surprising even himself by his choice of words. They felt right though.

Stomping forward it was not Pitch looming anymore, it was Kurt stretching himself as tall as he could get, thrusting his fingers right up in the other man's grey face and hissing his frustration out at the Legend.

"I can see it all so clear now," he bit out through his teeth, his face twisting up in ire. "You are a sad little man, and you can't handle the fact that you are absolutely ordinary! You're angry about not being top dog anymore? Well, get over it, you sickening shit! The world is never going to fall on it's knees for you again, can't you see that?! Just because you think you can  _make_ them miserable, it doesn't mean they will worship you! What it does mean is that you  _sir_ , you have the mind and intelligence of a five year old on a temper tantrum, and you are too blind to see it!"

Breathless, Kurt pushed the old man before him once, twice, before sending him falling onto his back.

Stepping up so he had one foot on either side of the Legend's stomach Kurt stared down at him with fiery eyes. "I will  _never_ let myself be afraid of you again. Not of you, not of your nightmares, nor will I be of anything you might do to me. You... can't... hurt... me," he gritted out, watching the man beneath him.

To his clear confusion, Pitch only smiled, which truly didn't make  _any_ sense whatsoever. What did he possibly have to smile about?

"Are you sure about that?" the Legend asked him, an evil smirk stretching across his face. From his hand a long strand of dust stretched itself across the dark ground, twining and curling itself further and further away from the two of them. Kurt watched the dust as it reached one of the cages – Jack's cage – and felt his heart thud painfully as it ripped him out of the cage.

Walking away from Pitch Kurt stared as the dust held the Guardian up by his hands far up in the air, the fear slowly seeping back into his body, taking hold of it absolutely once again.

Pitch had been right, there was still something he could do that would send Kurt into a tailspin of fright, he sees that now, sees the boy he loves hanging pitifully far above him.

"You see Kurt," Pitch purred into his ear, "there  _is_ something I can scare you with after all."

The thing is though, Kurt wasn't scared because of what might happen to  _him himself_ if Jack was hurt, he was only afraid of Pitch hurting  _Jack_ , which was why he didn't hesitate for one second when he hurled himself around and threw himself against the cloaked Legend. And caught off guard, Pitch once more fell to the ground, this time with Kurt landing on top of him.

There Kurt landed punches left and right, doing everything he could to hurt the man that intended to harm Jack.

It didn't last long before he found the space beneath him void of the dark figure, instead seeing him standing mere feet from where he himself were on his knees. Getting to his feet Kurt hurled himself into another attack, but this time Pitch is prepared and dodged the attack, reappearing behind Kurt. The same thing happened the next time, and the next, and the next. Kurt didn't stop trying though, launching himself into one attack after another, hoping that he just  _once_ would get close enough.

"Your little attempt at winning here," Pitch mocked him inbetween their bouts, "while rather... endearing, I guess, is not doing you much good here, you know."

"Doesn't mean I won't try," Kurt bit out, reaching for Pitch's cloak and missing.

"No, it just means you're a fool," Pitch scorned. "After you've lost – and you will, so you should just give up now to save us both sometime – I will rule this world again. Just like I did before."

"Guess we will see about that," Kurt spat out, drawing closer to the dark figure once more. "I gotta say," Kurt gritted out between harsh breaths, tiredness sprouting through his body, "I thought you would have your little minions here," Kurt motioned around himself at the half-hidden horse creatures that were just watching them, "taking care of me instead of doing the dirty work yourself. Do you not trust them?"

"Oh, I trust them plenty," Pitch smirked, disappearing from plain sight once again. "They're myself in another form after all. But I suppose there is something... deeply satisfying... just thinking about taking care of you with my own... bare... hands."

Kurt could see the cloaked man as he started in on an attack of his own, knowing he was too tired and weak to stop it, but the impact never came. Instead he watched on as Pitch tumbled around on the floor, North attached to his back and holding him in an iron grip.

"Hey Bunny!" he shouted in his thick, Russian accent, "you get those damned beasts, yeah?"

"I'm on it, mate," Kurt heard someone answer, but was too occupied trying to get to grips with what was happening, to locate its owner. North was there... He was not alone anymore...

Relieved beyond belief Kurt sagged to the floor, his knees buckling beneath him. Immediately there were hands reaching for him, and he looked up to see Brittany before him.

"Are you okay Kurtsie?" she asked, a worried look on her face.

"I'm fine," he reassured her. "Just a little short of breath."

"Is Jack okay too?" she asked him next, and Kurt's eyes at once flew to where the Guardian had been held in the air, but instead found him unconscious on the ground.

With Brittany's help the two of them – and surprisingly Baby Tooth as well, who seemed to have if not conquered her fear than at least dared to face it – staggered towards the boy, sitting down on either side of him.

About to shake the unmoving teen before him Kurt stilled his hands inches from the Legend's body, fearing his touch might cause harm instead of the help he wanted it to be. Unsurely Kurt let his hands hover over the other boy's body, his eyes staring at his shaking fingers before slowly lowering them back into his own lap.

What if he had been too late?

"Why is he asleep?" Brittany asked, raking her hand gently through the Guardian's wayward hair.

"I- I don't know if he is Britts," Kurt said unsurely, voice rough as he thought about far more horrible possibilities than that. He could see no signs of life coming from the deathly pale Legend, his blue eyes blurring as he took the still body in. Jack looked even worse than he had done in the cage when Kurt first arrived; big, dark rings now rested under his eyes, and his lips had turned dry and cracked. And those were just two of the multitude of things he noticed, what were there to say how Jack was coping where they wouldn't be able to see? Was his heart strong enough to take the strain?

"Of course he is, silly," the blonde girl argued, pointing to Jack's eyes, that while closed, still showed the most miniscule of movement happening beneath the lids. "See," she concluded, stroking her palm down the sleeve of Jack's torn hoodie.

Not daring to believe it, Kurt observed as little Baby Tooth herself landed on Jack's chin, raising both arms over the open mouth before her. Not able to even breathe, he watched as in a trance as she tilted her head to the side, all three of them silent and still for many long moments.

It wasn't until Kurt had begun to lose whatever little hope he had managed to accumulate that the small fairy lit up, a grin spreading over her face. "He's breathing," she said simply, letting herself fly away from Jack's face to hide herself amongst the long strands of Brittany's flowing hair.

Kurt didn't even notice the fairy hiding away, too focused on trying to wake his boyfriend up – preferably  _without_ causing him more harm. A concept which Brittany apparently didn't share, as she had no doubt about shaking the Guardian's shoulders roughly. About to scold her for being far too careless Kurt witnessed wide-eyed as she point blank smacked the unconscious boy across his cheek.

"What the hell?" he cried furiously, glaring at the girl before him, truly wishing his father hadn't taught him to never hit a girl, because he really,  _really_ wanted to in that moment.

"What?" she grinned in return. "It woke him, didn't it?"

"Kurt?" a quiet, confused voice asked.

"Jack?" disbelief clouding his voice Kurt's eyes drifted from an excited Brittany to Jack, who was struggling to get up on his elbows.

Hands swiftly flying to help the Legend Kurt's mouth struggled to form words, his tongue heavy.

Unblinking, he watched how Jack's tired eyes settled onto his own, and he just about cried when he felt a familiar palm cup his cheek. "Hi," Jack smiled weakly up at him.

"Hi," Kurt whispered, his eyes sparkling as he gazed at the gorgeous boy in his arms. And unable to refrain Kurt pressed the tiniest of pecks against Jack's lips, letting out a choking giggle as Jack begged for another, but relented, and did so happily. The second kiss wasn't as gentle; Jack pushing for more the second Kurt molded his lips to the Legend, taking Kurt completely by surprise.

It wasn't until Kurt heard a voice cut through the fog in his mind that he remembered they weren't alone.

"-I know they're cute Britt, but keep quiet or they will stop!" he could hear Baby Tooth whine from somewhere above him. He was aware of the flush rushing onto his cheeks as he realized just how on display he was being right then, and how this really wasn't the time for hungry kisses. Against his lips he could felt Jack grin mischievously, making himself smile as he pulled back from the other boy.

He could hear the two girls whine beside them, as well as Baby Tooth muttering out a small "Told you you should shut up," but he was all too entranced by Jack's beautiful smile to care much.

The moment was sadly ruined when Bunny jumped past them, fighting two of the shadow horses that had drifted too close to their 'weaker' little group. "Hey Jackie, if you're well enough to french that boy of yours you're well enough to help out, yeah?" The Legend is off after that, and Kurt momentarily saw him bouncing about the pillars, trying to take the beasts down, before disappearing out of sight.

Then Kurt processed the words the Guardian had said, and turned back to the boy in his arms. "He can't be serious, right? You're too weak!"

"Don't worry Kurt," Jack soothed, smiling up at him. "Guardians are tough, I will be just fine."

"Did you hit your head?" Kurt questioned, fingers flying to search Jack's head. "Because that is crazy talk."

"I'm fine Kurtie," Jack promised, stilling Kurt's shaking hands. "I will  _be_ fine."

"Am I the only one who remembered you were  _unconscious_ not ten minutes ago?" Kurt exclaimed, staring from Jack to Brittany and Tooth and back. "Britts, back me up here."

"I think he will be fine actually," the blonde said, tilting her head thoughtfully. "Besides, Jack is a unicorn. One can't kill a unicorn. That is bad luck."

Staring incredulously at the cheerleader Kurt wondered what to make of her statement, but came to the conclusion he just  _didn't_ have the time to ponder it. Instead he was ready to knock some sense into Jack, though the words stuck to his tongue when he caught sight of the pleading look in the Legend's eyes.

"Please, just let me do this Kurt," Jack begged him, and Kurt couldn't help but nod, no matter how  _stupid_ Jack was being right then and there. Not that Kurt doubted for a minute that the older boy would ignore him and do as he pleased even if Kurt told him he couldn't.

"You don't even have your staff!" Kurt tried to plead with him one last time, but the Guardian merely smiled.

"Let me worry about that," Jack told him. "Now, help me up."

With Kurt and Brittany's help Jack got to his feet, Kurt standing close as he took a few tentative steps. Everything seemingly going well the Legend looked back at him, grinning, before leaping into the air.

As Kurt worriedly kept his eyes trained on his boyfriend he could hear Brittany and Baby Tooth's shocked gasps, but before he could decipher what that was about he observed how Jack reached his hand out mid-air, a weird noise starting up behind him. Shocked he watched how hundreds of little wooden splinters shot to the air, zooming towards the pale Guardian. He could see the splinters pack ever closer and closer to one another, and when they reached Jack at last, Kurt looked on surprised as the staff was once again in one whole piece.

Kurt winced when he watched Jack land, could see how sore his boyfriend was, but was forced to watch as one of the shadow creatures quickly zeroed in on him, attacking him.

"Kurt! Kurt!" Brittany shouted behind him, grabbing his hand and dragged him away from the sight of his boyfriend fighting for his life, something which Kurt wasn't sure whether to be grateful for or not.

"What is it Britts?" Kurt asked her, glancing over his shoulder to catch a glimpse of Jack slamming his staff against the horse's side, sending it to the ground in a pile of dust, before immediately being targeted by another.

"Kurt, we have to help them," Britt cried, gesturing to the other Legends still stuck inside the cages.

Kurt stopped her when she tried to reach for the cage before them. "We can't touch them," he told her, looking at the shimmering dust. "They will drain our energy."

"Well, what do you think we should do then?" she asked him, surprisingly glumly to boot. "We can't just leave them there Kurt. They are hurting."

He could see that as well; if Jack had been in one of those things fur but an hour at the most, he couldn't fathom how these poor creatures were still alive. "I don't know," he told her, feeling useless as he stared at the lifeless woman inside the cage before them.

Behind him he could hear the ruckus of the other people fighting, but he forced himself not to turn around and look; knew it would only leave him hurting even more, feeling even more hopeless.

"It sort of looks like sand," Brittany remarked, stepping closer and squinting at the cages. "Don't you think?"

"Sand?" Kurt asked, miffed. He had thought it was just simple dust. But lo and behold, when he too looked closer he could see that she was indeed right about it being sand.

Not how he understood how that could possibly be of any help.

"Maybe Sandy will know how to get past them?" Baby Tooth wondered, biting her lip.

"Sandy?" Kurt questioned, unable to place a person to the name.

"The sandman," Brittany responded, swirling around, eyes searching through the battle. "Sandy!" she shouted shrilly, gathering the small, golden man's attention. "Can you help us?!"

Lifting his hand up, gesturing her to wait, he lashed a thick golden rope of dust – sand? – through the air, cutting down a dozen of the wicked beasts advancing through the shadows.

In a moment he was beside them, a small question mark hovering atop his head as he traveled his tired eyes between them.

"We're trying to open the cages," Brittany told him, pointing to the closest one. "But we can't touch them. Do you have something that will help?"

Kurt watched the little man grab hold of his chin thoughtfully, his big eyes turning to small slits as he peered at the cage, before lightning up. Digging through his pockets he then presented the blonde with a small object. It was a small thing, strangely akin to a simple pencil, but thicker, Kurt observed silently. As the man pushed a button a thin stream of golden sand shot out, encompassing a small fraction of the cage, and he showed them how they could now reach through that section freely, no harm done to them.

"Thank you!" the three of them shouted at his back, watching him rush back to the others, thick golden ropes already reaching out from his hands, ready to be swung.

"Well, that was strangely easy," Kurt mentioned, turning Brittany's hand over and looking at the device. There wasn't much to it really, just a tube, about four inches long and slightly thicker than a pencil, with a single button near the back on its side.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Tooth grumbled, pointing to the cage Sandy had shot not long before. There the thick black sand was swiftly overtaking the golden patches, encompassing it in its darkness.

"We will just have to be quick then," Brittany said positively, handing the tube to Kurt. "You shoot, and I will grab them."

"I'm bigger than you," Kurt grumbled, but nevertheless pointed the pen towards the cage, once again dousing it in gold, making the patch big enough for Brittany to reach in and grab the woman inside. Stuffing the pen in his pocket Kurt helped her ease the female Legend down to the ground, making sure she was breathing before they hurried to the next cage.

It took time, there was no way around that, the thin stream of golden sand hard to get to cover a big enough patch for Brittany to reach inside. But one by one they manage to extract the lifeless creatures from their prisons, carefully placing them on the floor for now.

Several times as they worked shadow creatures came across their path, rearing up before them and bucking their hooves at the three of them, but they were repeatedly pushed back by either Jack, Bunny or one of the others. Even some of the yetis that North had brought along would get between the two groups, which Kurt was grateful for. Their collective help was something which allowed Kurt and Brittany to keep rescuing the other Legends in peace despite the dangerous environment.

The last cage they reached was the first one Kurt came across earlier, the one with the small, dirty leprechaun in it, and he could hear Brittany hiccupping up tears as she took him into his arms, sinking to her knees with him in her lap. "Who does this to people?" she choked, stroking the little man's hair away from his face. "It's not right."

"I know Britt-Britt," Kurt mumbled as he placed the pen in his pocket, before sitting down beside her to pat her arm comfortingly. "But they will be fine now, okay?"

"That doesn't make it right," she grumbled, tears streaming from her shining eyes.

"It doesn't," Kurt agreed, hugging her to him as best as he could, doing what he could to soothe her.

"I don't think Pitch is really evil," she mumbled eventually, looking over at the dark figure where he was fighting their friends. "I think he's just... lonely," she sighed, ducking her head down to press a small kiss to the leprechaun's dirty forehead.

"How so?" Kurt asked her, rubbing her shoulder. He just couldn't see it, couldn't see past the man's grim actions and egotistical demands. To him, Pitch was just another bully.

"I don't think he has any friends," she said, tilting her head as she stared at the man in question. "I think he just stays here all alone, every day."

"But Pitch doesn't want friends," Kurt pointed out to her. "He told me earlier that what he wanted was for everybody to believe in him again, for everybody to fear him again. He wants to rule the world like he did before."

The blonde simply hummed thoughtfully, closing her eyes. "Do you think he even knows what a friend is at all?" she wondered quietly, making Kurt frown confusedly. "Maybe... maybe he have  _never_ had one at all, and that is why he wants the children to fear him so much. Because he thinks that  _that is_ what friendship's like."

"Are you saying he just doesn't know any better?" Kurt asked her softly, looking over at the man from his nightmares. If that were true the man wouldn't be so much  _evil_ as just... sad.

"Maybe," she shrugged. "I could be wrong."

Kurt never had thought he would actually  _pity_ the man that had lurked in his nightmares for months, but while wondering if Brittany might just be correct with her theory after all, he couldn't help but feel just a sliver of sadness for the Legend.

Of course, that was the moment when Pitch would look at him, his eyes narrowing to slits as a harsh grin filled his face. No sooner than he could blink Kurt found himself lifted to his feet by his hair, and he screamed from the sharp pain on his skull, hands flying up to grasp the hand holding him.

"Shut up kid!" Pitch howled in his ear, gripping him even tighter.

Kurt whimpered, toes straining to push himself upwards to relieve some of the pain.

"Pitch..." he could hear North drag out angrily, and when he opened his bleary eyes he could see all five Guardians standing side by side not twenty feet away, a big horde of yetis gathered behind them. Beside them all was sweet Brittany, still clutching the small leprechaun in her arms, Baby Tooth clinging to one of her loose curls.

"Here's how thing's gonna go," the dark man behind him hissed, scraping his disgusting nails against his scalp. "You're going to give up, all of you, and if you don't, I won't hesitate to hurt poor little Kurtsie here." He felt how Pitch leant closer to him, felt the foul breath hit the side of his face. "You were a thorn in my side from the start," Pitch growled quietly into his ear, low enough for Kurt to be the only one who heard it, "and I can't wait to cut you down."

"You don't want to do this Pitch," Jack tried to level with him, his hands held high up in the air, the brown staff lying by his feet. Kurt could see the worry on his face, and hated Pitch for making Jack feel that way.

"Oh, I do Jack," Pitch sneered, "I most certainly do."

"Pitch, come on-" North began in his thick accent, only to be interrupted.

"No!" Pitch bellowed, yanking Kurt's hair around, making him scream in the process. "You don't think I'm serious?! You don't think I'm willing to kill a worthless  _human_ to get what I want?! You just watch-"

He stopped listening to what the man behind him was saying, focusing on other things instead. Like for instance how every little piece of hair atop his head felt like it was being pulled out of their roots. Or how his throat felt raw from his screams.

Or how Brittany sat hunched down and was whispering something into Sandy's ear, and how the Guardian's lips pulled slightly at the corner. He could see the small golden man nod in tiny motions, and how the Legend then looked back at him, his eyes alight with hope unlike the others.

As Kurt watched on Sandy brought his hands behind his back in slow movements, then pulled them back out in front of him. There were now something hiding in his closed fist, but Kurt couldn't see what. He would have tilted his head in question if he could, but instead he just blinked.

When the sandman opened his fist for a few short seconds - probably while Pitch wasn't looking – Kurt could see a small familiar tube resting there. But then the hand was closed around it again, Sandy looking from him to Pitch and back again, before raising a single eyebrow.

It was obvious what they wanted him to do, but the question was if he could manage it without Pitch noticing. Deciding he must at least try Kurt allowed his hand to – at a glacial pace – travel to his pocket. Kurt carefully extracted the golden pen, clutching it in his hand. Closing his eyes he imagines Jack before him, telling him to be brave and to have courage, and when he opened his eyes he took a deep breath and swung around.

His skull positively  _ached_ as he fired the pen straight at his captor's face, both of them howling as they fell to the ground.

Sandy was quick to come to his aid, since he already knew what was happening, but the other's took a few seconds to get to grips with what had just happened. Then Kurt could feel himself being picked up and held in strong, familiar arms, and he gratefully fell against Jack's chest, breathing in the other boy's soothing scent.

Kurt, Brittany and Jack watched on as the other's took swift care of the dark Legend, sticking close to one another as Sandy sprinkled golden sand from an equally golden vial he had hid amongst his clothing onto Pitch's wrists. As Kurt gazed on he could see the sand form itself into a pair of handcuffs, holding Pitch's hands behind his back effectively.

"It's stardust," Jack explained to the two humans lowly as they pressed another piece over Pitch's mouth to keep him quiet. "Sandy mixed it with his own sand after Pitch tried to take over the first time. Said he needed something if he would try it again. Pitch won't be able to break away from it on his own. Can't create any of his own black sand either if it works the way it should."

At that Sandy turned around to nod excitedly, pointing to the cuffs before bouncing on the spot, holding his hands above his head. He looked downright adorable.

"Well, that was that I guess," North exhaled, wiping the sweat from his face away with his shirt. Kurt would cringe at the action, but he had gotten used to Finn back at home, so...

"Where should we keep him?" Bunny asked, scratching one of his long ears. Brittany walked over to him to help, and the big bunny began tapping one of his huge feet against the ground rapidly, sinking into her touch happily.

"I can't keep him at my place," Toothania rushed, putting in her two cents before anyone else had the chance. "He completely  _destroyed_ it the last time he was there, it took me months to rebuild."

"Not my place either," North gruffed out, scratching his sweat-soaked beard. "The yetis have unfinished business with him."

"Don't look at me mate," Bunny hurried, saying nothing else as he allowed Brittany to do as she pleased.

Sandy said nothing at all, merely shook his head.

Jack only closed his eyes, heaving a sigh.

"How about the secret hideout?" Kurt suggested, clinging to Jack when all eyes traveled to him.

"He knows about the secret hideout?" Bunny asked, sounding incredulous, and even pulled away from Brittany's touch to jump closer, squinting his eyes. Behind him Brittany only pouted sadly. "Why?"

"How did he know about it?" Toothania questioned confusedly.

North just looked at Jack, shaking his head.

"Okay, fine!" Jack admitted, putting his hands up. "I told him."

"Why would you  _do_ that?" Bunny moaned, his nose twitching irritably. "It was a  _secret hideout_ ."

"Yeah, Jack," Toothania agreed. "That wasn't nice." She still almost fell over herself when Jack threw her a smile, and Kurt narrowed his eyes at her, burrowing himself closer to Jack. The jealousy didn't stop him from blushing when Jack threw him a teasing smile moments later.

"Wait, wait, wait," North spoke, walking closer. "Just what are you thinking Kurt?"

"Uhmm," he mumbled, darting his eyes from one curious Legend to the next. "Well, if it was built so that he won't be able to hide in there, why not just lock him up inside?"

"Hmm," North hummed thoughtfully. "It  _could_ work. Yes... Maybe..."

"Good idea kid," Bunny told him, stepping forth and ruffled his hair with one of his big paws. Kurt stared up at the Guardian angrily and smacked the paw away, making not only Bunny to guffaw out a laugh but Jack as well.

"Don't touch the hair," he told the Legend seriously, smoothing his disrupted locks down.

"I would listen to him, Roo," Jack told the bunny seriously. "He will make you pay."

"Don't call me Roo," Bunny grumbled, jumping off.

When Kurt looked up at Jack imploringly, trying to figure out what  _that_ was about, Jack only raised an eyebrow and kissed him on the cheek.

Kurt could hear the small chorus of 'aww' coming from the trio of girls standing close together, and stared at them incredulously until they shut up.

"Right," North boomed, clapping his hands together loudly. "Jack, why don't you get Brittany and Kurt back to theirs, and we will take care of getting the other Legends some help and to get this old bugger sorted, yeah?" he chortled, nudging Pitch in the side, almost sending him falling to the floor. Kurt could see the disdain in the Legend's eyes as he righted himself up to his knees, glaring at the jolly Russian.

"Wait," Brittany said, skipping forward until she was in front of North and Pitch. "Can I give you a hug first?"

Around him Kurt could hear several gasps in response to Brittany's question; as it had not been directed to North like one might think, but to the kneeling Boogieman. Pitch too seemed surprised, though he masked it well. Kurt wasn't particularly taken aback by her question, as he not only knew the girl better than most people present, but also because he had heard what she had said earlier about the dark man.

"Brittany- are you sure...?" North stuttered, his already huge eyes even bigger as she kneeled before the shackled Legend.

"Well yeah," she said matter-of-factly, looping her arms around Pitch's waist and resting her head to his shoulder. "Maybe I will come visit sometime," she said to the Legend, "if they will let me. You could use a friend."

Looking around at the other Legends in the room Kurt decided to step forward as well, kneeling beside Brittany. "I'm not gonna hug you," he told Pitch seriously. He didn't think he could manage it without wanting to hurt the man's back as much as possible. "But perhaps I will come with Brittany sometime."

Just as he was about to step away again, he came to think of something and sat down on his heels again.

"You know what? Maybe I'll take that hug anyway," Kurt smiled, curling his arms around the taller man. Tucking his head close to Pitch's he whispered, "But if you _ever_ kidnap  _my_ boyfriend again, I will make sure you think your nightmares are a fucking walk in the park."


	11. Chapter 10 And Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The artist responsible for the gorgeous piece of watercolor art further down this page is A_Wandering_Soul, and you can find this piece of art (and many more) here:
> 
> http://awanderingsouldreams.deviantart.com/art/Uno-Floccus-Niveus-545471228?ga_submit_new=10%253A1436565525&ga_type=edit&ga_changes=1&ga_recent=1

Jack dropped Brittany off first, the beautiful blonde asking to be taken to Santana's. The Legend only hoped the Latina wouldn't chew her head off for it; most people didn't take too kindly to people showing up at their house unexpectedly in the middle of the night.

Both Brittany and Kurt claimed it would be okay though, and he took their word for it.

Dropping Kurt off was harder – mostly because the slight teen didn't want him to leave, instead inviting Jack to spend the night. "Just to sleep!" Kurt had hurried to mention, his blush so dark Jack almost mistook him for a tomato. And how could he possibly say no to the boy?

He hadn't mentioned how he didn't really sleep, hadn't mentioned really that he _couldn't_ actually get _tired_ period. What had happened back in Pitch's lair had been a rare occurrence – all his energy leaving his body and allowing him to actually _sleep_. The other had claimed he had been unconscious, but whatever. It was still the first time he had been asleep since his re-birth as a Legend.

Holding Kurt however as he slept? That, that was heavenly, and Jack even allowed himself to envision a future where that was a daily occurrence.

Kurt felt strong and solid against him, his back tucked up against Jack's front with Jack's hand curled up against Kurt's heart, feeling it beat against his palm time and time again. Where he lay Jack spent the remainder of the night and a great deal of the morning relishing in feeling Kurt in his arms, something not even Finn's loud snores from the other side of the room could ruin.

The sleepy smile Kurt shot him when he woke up though? That was positively divine, and Jack just had to steal a small kiss from him, ignoring Kurt's many protests about morning breath, before shooing him into the bathroom.

Jack could imagine plenty a morning spent just like this.

~*~

_The first nightmare Kurt had after Pitch had been imprisoned wasn't one he had ever had before. In fact, unlike all his usual nightmares, this one actually started out rather happily._

_Him and Jack were in the backyard, just resting in the sun and enjoying the other's company. Jack was holding one of Kurt's hands in his, and Kurt was resting his head on Jack's shoulder. Around them the birds were chirping happily, and he could hear his father and Carole laughing in the background._

_Peaceful, was how Kurt would describe it._

_Of course, as it was a nightmare, things couldn't stay perfect for too long. Soon enough thick clouds rushed over the horizon, and before either of them knew it they were caught in a huge storm. Fat drops of rain fell quickly everywhere around and on them, and lightning boomed loudly around them._

" _Jack?" Kurt shouted, terrified of what was happening. "What's going on?"_

" _I don't know!" the Legend screamed back, pulling Kurt to his feet and dragging him to the house._

_Being pushed inside Kurt landed in a sprawl of limbs on the floor, and as he lay there he could hear Jack scream in fright behind him. Rolling around he could see the Legend beginning to lift off the ground, an invisible force pulling him backwards._

_Getting to his feet Kurt was quick to grab hold of the older boy's hands, trying in vain to pull the boy back to him._

" _Jack!" he screamed, feeling his fingers start to slip from the Guardian's._

" _Kurt!" Jack shouted, his feet lifting higher and higher behind him. "Don't let go!"_

" _I won't!" Kurt promised. At least he wouldn't ever do it voluntarily. But it wouldn't be long before he was left without a choice, because they were soon only attached by the fingertips. Kurt knew it was only a few moments left before the unthinkable would happen._

" _Kurt," Jack mouthed, right before their hands disconnected._

_With a silent, gut-wrenching scream Kurt watched as the Legend was taken by the wind, and he couldn't look away as he flew further and further away._

" _Kurt!" he could hear Jack scream in the distance. "Kurt! Kurt! Kurt-"_

When Kurt woke up he found himself held close in somebody's arms, and he heard a familiar voice chanting his name, begging him to wake up.

"You didn't disappear," Kurt reflected, happiness beginning to bubble inside his stomach.

"I didn't disappear," Jack agreed. "Not for a while, anyway."

"Mhmm," Kurt hummed, resting his cheek on the boy's warm chest. "Good."

~*~

"I have to go, Jack," Kurt sputtered happily, eyes glimmering with content as they glanced towards the stage.

It had been almost a week since that final battle with Pitch in the dark cave and things were finally looking up; Quinn had just given birth to a healthy baby girl, Kurt and his friends were about to go out on stage and get their first place trophy in just a few seconds – not even Sue could kid herself into thinking they weren't deserving it – and then he would spend the rest of his night in his boyfriend's arms.

"No- wait, Kurt!" he could hear Jack shout as he pulled himself free, rushing towards where the other's were urging him on.

"What?" he asked, turning around by the curtains of the stage and looking back at the other boy. People were rushing past Kurt, blurring his sight effectively, yet he caught glimpses of Jack through the mass of Aural Intensity members hurrying past him and up on the stage.

Vaguely he could see Jack mouthing words at him, but the sound was drowned out by the roaring of the crowd around him. Whatever it was, Kurt decided, it could wait for just a few minutes. So, holding his hand up in a waiting motion, he backed his way onto the stage, eyes not leaving his beautiful boyfriend for a moment until his friends shook him out of it, and brought his attention back to the quest at hand.

This was it...

~*~

This was it, Jack thought glumly, watching Kurt join his friends. Time was running out; soon Jack was intended to go back to his world, and leave Kurt behind. Leave his _home_ behind.

He had tried one last time to tell the younger boy that he was leaving, that he couldn't stay. For so long he had tried to tell Kurt that he would be leaving today, that he wasn't allowed to remain by Kurt's side, that this was goodbye – for now at least.

He had told the bright countertenor countless times how sorry he was for needing to leave once spring came, but not once had he mentioned a specific date. He couldn't, not as it would finally bring the situation to light. As it would have made it real. Instead he was too late, and Kurt would need to figure this out on his own when he couldn't find the Guardian awaiting for him when he returned.

He could only hope the younger boy wouldn't hate him for this.

Jack didn't want to go. Of course, there hadn't been a single year when he had been keen to leave Earth behind, but this time it was different. Never before had it ached so much to know his time was nearing its end. Never before had it felt like he was being split apart; his heart pounding so harshly with the need for just ten more minutes, five more minutes, two more minutes...

"It's time Jack," he heard Father Time call out behind him. Breaking his eyes away from Kurt's excited form he looked over his shoulder, eyes closing tiredly as he sighed at the sight of the master of time.

"Can I have just a few more minutes?" he pleaded, eyes boring back into Kurt's slender frame. He watched the happy glint in his boyfriend's stark blue eyes, the slight tilt of his lips forming an expectant smile, the way he was holding on to his friend Mercedes like he was going to faint if he didn't.

Jack felt a single tear fall down his cold cheek.

"Please?"

"You know I can't allow that Jack," Time sighed, placing a big palm on Jack's shaking shoulder and squeezing in an attempt to comfort the breaking Guardian. "There is a time and a place for everything, and yours is about to run out. There is nothing either of us can do about it but wait for the seasons to change again. You know they will. Eventually you'll get back here. Eventually you will meet young Master Hummel again. But until then you must leave Earth."

Jack shook his head desperately at the hopeless situation he was in. He could see Kurt – ever excited – and knew there was nothing he could do to delay this long enough.

Turning his head to the tall time-keeper he simply said one word, feeling it burn his insides as it passed his lips. "Fine."

~*~

Kurt couldn't believe it.

They had come third. _Third_. How in the world had they ended up dead last? Even Aural Intensity had beaten them, with that awful mash-up of theirs that could have no other purpose but to suck up to the judges.

Well, it definitely seemed to have worked. Who knew?

Kurt could at least understand Vocal Adrenaline to some degree. Rachel had told them all how they were amazing after all, and she was a critic if there ever was one.

They still should have beaten Aural Intensity, had there been an impartial judging.

Disappointed, Kurt and his friends stepped back behind the stage once more. At least his boyfriend would cheer him up again, Kurt reflected dully, dragging his feet.

Only, when he reached the spot he had last seen the Guardian, he was nowhere to be found. Kurt gathered quickly that something was amiss, as Jack wouldn't leave without a damned good reason. Not without telling Kurt.

Telling Kurt.

Shit.

 _That_ had been what the Legend had been trying to tell him earlier, wasn't it? That it was time to go... well, if not _home_ , then at least back.

Kurt had really hoped spring wouldn't come for a long time. Guess one couldn't have everything.

And things that had finally become _so good_ ; now he was gonna have to spend all summer waiting. Sure, he would have his friends, and his father, and they would all have a great time together, but he would still miss Jack like crazy.

He already did.

~*~

**Epilogue**

**Six months later.**

Kurt couldn't believe it was almost time. Couldn't believe that in just a short matter of time, he would meet the boy who charmed him off his feet not even a year earlier, only to promptly disappear off the face of the Earth for six months. He had been waiting impatiently for the seasons to change, always pleading for them to pass quicker, faster, please please please.

He knew it hadn't been Jack's fault for going, knew it was the way things were for the Legends. Kurt knew they were only allowed to walk amongst humans a certain period of every year, unless special circumstances deemed otherwise. At least Kurt was lucky; Jack was one of the few who were actually permitted to walk the Earth the most. Some Legends like the groundhog, the Easter Bunny and many more like them only had that one day every year they had permittance for it.

Kurt couldn't imagine only being permitted _one day_ when he could spend time with Jack. It would be hell.

For McQueens sake, this _summer_ spent away from him had been hell enough. Sure, he had spent tons of it with Mercedes, Brittany and the rest of the gang, as well as working a lot for his father to hang out more with him, but the time had seemed to drag on even still.

He had even followed Brittany a few times to visit Pitch in his new prison. He hadn't spoken much during these little meetings, and neither had the Boogieman himself, but Brittany seemed pleased at the chance of speaking her mind uninterrupted. Kurt couldn't precisely say he was lining himself up to become Pitch's new best friend or anything, but they could at least spend a few hours in the other's presence amicably.

He had once asked North during one of their trips to Pitch why he wasn't allowed to visit Jack, only to be told that it was e man in the moon who had ordered it. They were already pushing things by visiting Pitch like this.

Kurt would have gladly switched out the visits with Pitch for a minute spent with Jack, but they wouldn't hear of it.

So the summer had definitely seemed unending at times. However, it was these last few days that had seemed the longest, hands down. Just these last forty-eight hours had seemed to never end.

But today was the day, and Kurt had been alight with jittery nerves all day long. He had been unable to sit still in every class, he had been unable to focus on what any of his teacher's had been saying, and he had been stumbling into more than one person that day by accident, too preoccupied with happy thoughts to watch where he was going.

Aside from merely daydreaming about Jack's face, the most common thought that was traveled through his mind that day was how he was going to have to thank Baby Tooth big time. The small fairy had early on in spring gotten sick of how the two of them would consistently moan and whine about how they missed the other so much, and had subsequently told them both that if they missed each other so much, why didn't they just do something about it? Just writing the other a letter or something would make them stop acting like five year olds who'd lost their favorite toy, right?

Ever since the small fairy had often been coaxed to play the messenger of their little notes, and she would do it every time, grumbling for hours on end after.

He and Jack both owed the small fairy the biggest thank you ever.

At the moment – considering how impatient he had been all day – he was in the park, avoiding his father as he waited for Jack. He knew that if he had stayed in the house he would have been pacing by now, walking back and forth between the windows, and because of it his father would had begun asking questions. And as his father was more or less unaware of Jack's existence in the first place, he didn't want to take that risk.

It was _so_ not the way he wanted his father to find out about his relationship.

So, like he said, he was currently in the park. Actually, he was pretty much the only one there, swinging softly on the swings as he hummed melodies to himself, his eyes closed as he waited.

It was the sudden wetness to his nose that tipped him off that something was going on, and when he opened his eyes he could see a dozen or so of snowflakes in the air before him. They were not falling to the ground however, no, they were just hanging in the air, still and silent.

Then suddenly they moved; twirling around one another and dancing up and down and from side to side. Kurt smiled, showing his teeth as he watched the flakes happily, and his eyes traced them as they began their journey around him, making him turn his head to keep watching...

And there he was, handsome as ever, his back leaning against the monkey bars, a big smile on his face. Jumping off the swing Kurt walked over, unexplainably patient despite the frenzied hurry he had felt for months, and stood before the Guardian, finally.

"Why hello Jack Frost," he smiled flirtatiously, looking up at the boy through his eyelashes.

"Kurt," Jack choked out, dragging Kurt into his arms, and hugged him like it was his last chance. Kurt let himself fall straight into it, and sighed contentedly. "Please don't ever greet me like that again," Jack muttered against his hair.

Kurt chuckled against his boyfriend's creamy white neck. "I promise."

"I love you," he heard Jack mumble happily.

"I love you too," Kurt answered; feeling spurts of affection rush through his chest.

He swore he could stay here forever.

He hoped he would.

~*~

It had been a long summer, Jack had thought many times during the past three months. It had been much longer than usual. Of course, for a good many years there hadn't been much to look forward to. For years he had been suffering from heartbreak no matter his location, whether it be in the dimension he called 'home', or on Earth where nobody had been able to see him for centuries. The last thirty years of course, those he had always spent the summers _longing_ to go back.

Never as badly as this year though.

It had been torture staying away from Kurt that summer. The only thing that had helped him keep his sanity at all were the few dozens of letters Kurt had sent his way. He knew them all word by word, had read every single one hundreds of times, memorizing them in his need to feel close to the boy who stole his heart. He'd missed the countertenor so _much_ , and to finally have the younger boy in his arms... the feeling was indescribable. It was warmth, it was happiness, it was _home_ . It was being _complete_.

He wanted them to stay like this forever, with Kurt in his arms, protected against all the things out there in the world with the potential of harming the boy he loved.

He would do whatever it took to make it happen.

After all, it was what he'd once sworn to Kurt's mother. And Jack? He _never_ broke a promise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally, I just want to thank you for reading, it's been a lot of fun to write, and I hope you've enjoyed the time spent reading it! :)

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Uno Floccus Niveus](https://archiveofourown.org/works/4321302) by [Firefox](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Firefox/pseuds/Firefox)




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